Understanding factors that contribute to the variation in student mathematics achievement has been a critical issue to researchers, teachers, and policy in national efforts to improve mathematics achievement. Teachers are largely responsible for students' mathematics learning (Hiebert & Grouws, 2007; Nye, Konstantopolous, & Hedges, 2004; Rowan, Correnti, & Miller, 2002). However, there is a need for further research examining how teachers influence student achievement through the quality of the instructional opportunities they provide. Existing work directs attention toward mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) and mathematics instructional quality (MIQ) as critical factors predicting student achievement (Fennema & Franke, 1992; Hill et al., 2004; 2008; US Department of Education, 2008). Despite theoretical frameworks suggesting positive links between MKT, MIQ, and achievement, it is still largely unclear how these constructs are related. Contradictory evidence linking MKT to MIQ and achievement encourages us to press more deeply about how we can better support teachers' ability to translate their MKT into high quality classroom practice.
Social
emotional learning (SEL) interventions aimed at helping teachers create optimal
classroom learning environments that enhance children's ability to learn
effectively provide promise for improving the quality of instruction teachers
provide. One such intervention, the Responsive
Classroom¨ (RC) Approach (NEFC, 2003) is consistent with many of the NCTM
(2000) process standards for creating high quality mathematical learning experiences
for children and has early evidence
demonstrating improved classroom quality and gains in mathematics achievement (xxx,
2007). However, there is a need to understand whether RC can help teachers translate their MKT into higher quality
instruction.
The present study is part of
a larger three-year longitudinal cluster randomized controlled trial examining
the impact of the RC approach on classroom quality and student
achievement. Twenty-four schools in a mid-Atlantic school district were matched
demographically and assigned randomly into intervention (n=13) and control (n=11)
schools. Participants in the present study include 88 third grade teachers and
their 1,533 students from the 24 schools. Half (n = 44) of the teachers taught in schools receiving the RC intervention. 50.8% of the students
were male, 41.5% were Caucasian, 43.1% were English Language Learners, and 32.4%
of the students received FRL. Data were collected from three sources: student achievement tests, online
questionnaires, and classroom observations. Students' math achievement was
assessed in both 2nd and 3rd grade, using the Stanford-10
and the state
standardized math assessment. Demographic information about the students was also collected at this
time by the school administration. Teachers completed the online MKT assessment
(Hill et al., 2004) (13 items, µ=0.84). In addition, research
assistants videotaped all 88 third grade teachers for three mathematics lessons.
Upon the completion, tapes were sent to the laboratory for off-site
observational coding using two different measures: Classroom Practices Observational Measure (CPOM): (Abry, et al., 2010); and the Mathematics
Scan (M-Scan) (Berry, et al., under review). The M-Scan is a new classroom observational measure of MIQ.
Reliability and validity work has been conducted supporting its utility and
will be described in more detail in the paper (µ=0.93). A composite score was created for each
teacher representing his or her average MIQ. Two
level multi-group path analysis techniques were used to acknowledge the nesting
of children in classrooms, simultaneously test the direct and indirect effects of
each variable for predicting student achievement for each group separately, and
compare path coefficients (directionality and strength) across the two groups
of teachers. Two
major findings emerged from this study. First, this study provides empirical
evidence supporting two of the three direct links, and initial evidence for an
indirect link between MKT, MIQ, and student achievement; however, such findings
were only evident in the RC group. On
average, RC teachers who scored one
point higher on the MKT showed a 0.42 point gain on MIQ (roughly 1/3 of a
standard deviation). Further, teachers who integrated more RC practices into their teaching provided higher quality mathematics
instruction (p<0.05). In addition,
students who had RC teachers who
scored one point higher on the M-Scan performed, on average, 5.95 points higher
on their mathematics assessment (p=0.04). MKT was not directly related to
student achievement in the intervention or
control groups (p>0.05), but was
indirectly related in the RC group.
Second, group differences suggest that training in the RC Approach strengthens the relations among MKT, MIQ, and student
achievement.
A
current push in policy and teacher education is to improve teachers' content
knowledge and effectiveness (U.S Department of Education, 2008; 2010). However,
solely focusing on increasing the amount of MKT teachers hold without helping
teachers understand how to translate
their knowledge and create classroom environments that foster higher quality
instructional practices falls short in efforts to improve teacher quality or
raise student achievement. SEL interventions (such as RC)
may provide teachers with the necessary organizational and pedagogical skills
that allow them to effectively translate their knowledge into high quality
practices and support student learning. Findings will be discussed in
relation to potential methods that enhance the translation of content knowledge
to mathematics instructional quality and achievement. Further, the paper
describes limitations of the research pertaining to statistical power and
sampling.