The Impact of Professional Development Strategies on Teacher Practice and Student Achievement in Math

Contractors: AIR and MDRC

Background/Research Question:

Title II, Part A, the Improving Teacher State Formula Grants program, is the primary federal funding under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to support a high quality teacher in every classroom. The program, funded at $2.9 billion in FY08, targets high poverty districts and funds a broad array of allowable activities such as support for certification including alternative certification, teacher mentoring and induction, intensive professional development, recruitment, retention, and merit-based teacher and principal pay strategies as well as class size reduction. This study of math professional development provided by America's Choice and Pearson Achievements Solutions provides an important source of information for the professional development aspect of the program.

Professional development is argued by experts to be an important strategy to improve schools through increasing teacher quality. This evaluation focuses on seventh grade mathematics and gives teachers professional development (PD) designed to enhance their teaching of rational numbers topics—fractions, decimals, ratios proportions and percents—key areas noted in the 2007 National Math Panel report as critical for student success in the second half of the K-12 mathematics curriculum.

• What is the impact on teacher knowledge, teacher practice, and student achievement of providing 7th grade teachers with 1-year of intensive professional development (nearly 70 hours) that focuses on math concepts and math pedagogy in the areas of fractions, decimals, percent, ratio, and proportion?
• Does offering PD over two school years (up to 128 hours) impact teacher knowledge, teacher practice, and student achievement? And, is the two-year impact greater than one year?

Design:

In the first year, the PD intervention consists of a 3-day summer institute, five day-long seminars during the school year, and 10 days of additional coaching support. In the second year, the PD consists of a 3-day summer institute 7th grade math teachers are offered professional development consisting of a summer institute (4 days for newly hired teachers and 2 days for returning teachers), 3 seminars, and 4 coaching sessions. The PD focuses on both math content and math pedagogy with half the study sample receiving the PD from Pearson Achievement Solutions and the other half receiving PD from America's Choice; both providers were competitively selected. A pilot in 3 districts took place during the 2006–07 school year. The full study is being conducted in 12 districts and 88 schools in 2007–08 and in a subset of these schools in 2008–09 (6 districts and 39 schools). Middle schools in each district were randomly assigned to receive the treatment or the professional development normally provided by the district (the control condition). All eligible 7th grade math teachers within the treatment schools receive the professional development.

Data collection occurring in school years 2007–08 and 2008–09 includes measures of the professional development implementation, teacher knowledge and practice, and student achievement.

Duration: 5 years (August 30, 2005 – August 30, 2010).

Current Status:

The second year of professional development activities is being provided during the 2008–09 school year and a second year of data are being collected on implementation and student achievement. Analyses for the first report are underway with the first report scheduled for release in the fall of 2009.