Does It Work? Building Methods for Understanding Effects of Professional Development

该项目旨在严格调查专业发展对教师学习、课堂实践和学生成绩的影响等具有挑战性的问题。一个技术顾问小组提供强有力的方法支持，以及处理数学教育、教师专业发展和解决问题的能力。其目的是发展和完善经验检验这些变量之间的关系的方法。研究问题包括：教师从InterMath的经验中学到了什么；如果教师从InterMath学习，他们的教学实践是否会因此而改变？如果教师的做法改变了，学生的成绩是否会有可衡量的变化。pi认为这项研究有助于为数学学习者提供教育机会。通过研究从专业发展到学生学习的连续体的联系，pi打算采取步骤“获得洞察力，为与这些联系相关的实践提供信息”。本研究的重点是针对教师专业发展的7-8年级50学时数学数字概念课程中的一门（共六门），并将实验组教师与对照组教师进行比较，并根据CKT-M（教学数学内容知识）评估项目的相似反应模式进行匹配。通过国家标准参考能力测试（CRCT）和NAEP发布的项目评估学生的前后成就。基于录像的岗前教师观察。虽然InterMath显然是成功的，但没有对该计划进行独立研究，以前的工作主要基于教师的自我报告。该计划提供了一个研究机会，可以阐明所研究的联系。这不是对InterMath的评估，而是使用该程序来研究关键变量之间的关系，也许有助于人们如何研究这些关系。该研究旨在阐明专业发展、教师学习、教师实践和学生成绩等关键全球变量之间的联系，在这种背景下，有理由相信人们对实践的普遍看法是正确的。

The project intends to rigorously investigate challenging questions about the effects of professional development on teacher learning, classroom practice and student achievement. A technical advisory panel provides strong methodological support, and capacity for dealing with issues in mathematics education, teacher professional development, and problem solving. The intent is to develop and refine methods for empirically examining the relationships among these variables. Research questions include: what do the teachers learn from InterMath experiences; if the teachers learn from InterMath, do their instructional practices change as a result; and if the teachers' practices change, are there measurable changes in students' achievement. PIs see the study as contributing to educational opportunities for mathematics learners. By studying links along the continuum from professional development to student learning PIs intend to take steps toward" gaining insights to inform practice relevant to these connections. The focus of the study is on one (out of six ) 50-hour grades 7-8 mathematics number concepts course for teacher professional development and comparing treatment teachers to control groups with matching based on similar response patterns across items on an assessment of CKT-M (Content Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics). Pre-post student achievement assessed on state CRCT (Criterion Referenced Competency Test) and NAEP released items. Pre-post teacher observation based on videotapes. While InterMath has apparently been successful no independent study of the program has been carried out and previous work is based largely on teacher self report. The program provides an opportunity for research that may illuminate the connections studied. This is not an evaluation of InterMath but use of the program to study the relationships among the key variables and perhaps contribute to how one might study the relationships. The study has is intended to illuminate connections among the key global variables of professional development, teacher learning, teacher practice, and student achievement in a context where there is reason to believe the received view of practice is in place.