Co-Principal Investigator: Secada, Walter

Purpose: The purpose of this efficacy follow-up study is to evaluate the long-term effects of a teacher professional-development program based on Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) on student mathematics achievement and teacher outcomes (i.e., teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching, beliefs about math teaching and learning, and anxiety about teaching mathematics as well as levels of cognitive complexity and classroom discourse in mathematics instruction). A further purpose is to examine several potential mediating processes of the effect of the CGI intervention on students.

Project Activities: In the Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) intervention, teachers are taught to use a categorization scheme for types of math problems and for intuitive student thinking about math problems. Grade 1 and 2 teachers and their students across 22 schools that participated in a school-level cluster randomized controlled trial of a CGI-based teacher professional development intervention during the 2013—14 and 2014—15 school years will be invited to participate in the study. Researchers will estimate the long-term effects of the intervention on student mathematics achievement for students in grades 3—7 and teacher outcomes. In addition, researchers will explore classroom instruction as a potential mediator of the effect of the program on student achievement and describe proportion of teachers at a school who have ever received CGI training.

Products: Researchers will produce evidence of the CGI intervention for elementary math teachers and peer-reviewed and practitioner publications. Researchers will also communicate findings at the annual meetings of State and District Officials, monthly newsletter to principals, and national and local practitioner conferences. Researchers will make reports and results publically available through DigiNole, on open access online repository of research produced from Florida State University faculty and students.

Structured Abstract

Setting: The study will take place in urban and suburban districts in Florida.

Sample: Grade 1 and 2 teachers and their students across 22 schools participated in a school-level cluster randomized controlled trial of a CGI-based teacher professional development intervention during the 2013—14 and 2014—15 school years. Additional teachers in those schools and districts participated in the CGI program during the 2015—16 and 2016—17 school years.

Intervention: Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI) is a widely used professional development program for mathematics instruction in elementary school. Teachers were taught to use a categorization scheme for types of math problems and for intuitive student thinking about math problems. This program consisted of two summer institutes and two sets of follow-up days throughout the school year. In the summer institutes, videos illustrating student thinking and the CGI book (Children's Mathematics: Cognitively Guided Instruction) were used to introduce teachers to CGI. Then, teachers practiced writing problems for particular populations. During the school year, teachers interviewed students, discussed student work and thinking, and applied knowledge from summer institutes. CGI is conceptualized as a school-level professional development initiative intended to build a community of practice in the school around the principles that inform the professional development.

Research Design and Methods: The original random assignment of the 22 schools to treatment or control conditions will continue through the follow-up study. All the Grade 1 and 2 mathematics teachers and students in these schools will be invited to participate in the study. Using an “intent-to-treat” analysis, researchers will estimate the long-term effects of the CGU intervention on student mathematics achievement for students in grades 3—7. In addition to impacts on student and teacher outcomes, researchers will explore classroom instruction as a potential mediator of the effect of the program on student achievement and describe intervention fidelity.

Control Condition: Schools in the control condition received business-as-usual professional development interventions.

Key Measures: Researchers will assess student achievement with the Iowa Assessment (ITBS) and the Mathematics Performance and Cognition (MPAC) tests. They will assess teachers' cognitive factors with the Knowledge for Teaching Elementary Mathematics (K-TEEM), Beliefs about Mathematics Teaching and Learning (B-MTL), and Math Anxiety Scale for Teachers (MAST). They will measure classroom instruction using the Instructional Quality Assessment (IQA).

Data Analytic Strategy: Researchers will use two- and three-level hierarchical linear models to evaluate the impact of CGI on student and teacher outcomes at the school, teacher, and student levels. They will use descriptive statistics and mediation models to understand fidelity of implementation and the potential mediating effects of fidelity indicators. In addition, researchers will use path analysis to estimate the relevant mediation models.

Related IES Projects:

Replicating the CGI Experiment in Diverse Environments (R305A120781)