Co-Principal Investigators: Rebecca Perry (Mills College) and Robert Schoen (Florida State University)

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to test the independent and combined impacts of lesson study and a fractions resource kit, developed and pilot tested with IES funding (Improving the Mathematical Content Base of Lesson Study: Design and Test of Two Research-Based Toolkits). In this efficacy study, the team will incorporate more extensive and rigorous control conditions in a field-based randomized test to gauge the impact of the interventions on student learning. The researchers are also making adjustments to the fractions resource kit and trying to uncover the processes that affect teachers' learning during lesson study.

Project Activities: The research team will recruit teachers of third- and/or fourth-graders from 56 schools nationwide. Researchers will randomly assign classrooms to one of four conditions: Control; Lesson Study only; Fractions Kit only; and both Lesson Study and Fractions Kit. Outcome data will be collected prior to and after the end of fractions instruction in the classrooms, with the total time from initial to final assessment being about 90 days. The research team will also collect fidelity of implementation data using videos of fractions instruction, teacher logs, and other written reflections from the teachers.

Products: Researchers will produce evidence on whether lesson study and a fractions resource kit, separately and in combination, affects mathematics test scores for children in 3rd and 4th grades. In addition, researchers will produce a fractions resource kit for teachers and peer-reviewed presentations and journal manuscripts.

Structured Abstract

Setting: This study will take place in third-grade and fourth-grade classrooms at 56 different public schools across the United States.

Sample: The sample for this study includes teams of teachers recruited at each of 56 different public elementary schools across the country. Those teams of teachers will select one third-grade or one fourth-grade teacher and her/his students to create the student portion of the sample.

Intervention: Lesson study is a process by which teachers use an instructional approach for a specific topic while gathering observational and other data to assess the quality of the instructional approach. Teams of teachers plan the instruction, decide what data should be collected, determine how those data should be collected, and work together to collect the data while the instruction is being delivered. The teams then meet to discuss the data and the instructional approach. The fractions resource kit provides tools for conceptualizing and teaching fractions, similar to those available to Japanese teachers, and the kit provides step-by-step support for using those resources in the classroom.

Research Design and Methods: The study is a randomized control trial, with schools randomly assigned to one of four groups: Control; Lesson Study only; Fractions Kit only; and both Lesson Study and Fractions Kit. Year 1 of the study involves preparation. Year 2 of the study features the actual conduct of the research, with intervention implementation and most of the data collection occurring during the 2016–2017 school year. In Year 3, researchers will collect additional data from teachers regarding implementation and participant experience during the study. Data analysis, the write-up of results, and various dissemination activities will occur in Years 3 and 4.

Control Condition: Because the investigation aims to measure the effects of two separate interventions delivered by themselves and in combination, there is a control group that receives neither intervention, along with one group doing lesson study without the fractions kit and one group using the fractions kit without the lesson study.

Key Measures: The research team will collect data on student knowledge of fractions via in-class assessments and standardized state test scores. Researchers will assess teachers for their knowledge of fractions before and after the intervention period. Researchers will also measure fidelity of implementation using videos of in-class instruction, videos of the lesson study meetings for groups receiving that intervention, and teachers' written logs of their experience during the intervention.

Data Analytic Strategy: The research team will use multilevel modeling to estimate the treatment effect and to test for potential moderators of the treatment effect. In addition, researchers will use multilevel path analysis to estimate mediation effects.

Related IES Project: Improving the Mathematical Content Base of Lesson Study: Design and Test of Two Research-Based Toolkits (R305A070237)