From elementary generalist to mathematics specialist: Examining teacher practice and student outcomes in departmental and self-contained models

本研究调查了小学阶段学生数学学习成果与教师专业知识（具有数学专家认证的小学教师与一般准备的小学教师）和学校组织（部门化与独立的数学教室）的关系。密苏里州大学的研究人员将在多个密苏里州公立和私立学校网站组织和促进研究。调查结果将提供证据的影响，具体内容的教师的专业知识和部门化的学校组织模式，为学生提供合格的数学教师，没有额外的人员费用。本研究采用实验、准实验和质性设计，探讨教师专业知识和学校组织对学生学习的影响。具体而言，80名教师谁赢得了国家认证的小学数学专家（以下简称“EMS教师”）将被选中参加这项研究。采用随机实验设计，一半的EMS教师将被分配到一个部门的模式（条件1）在他们的学校任教，教两个或两个以上的四年级数学部分。另一半人将在学校中担任通才（以下简称“通才”）的职位（条件2），为一个班级的学生教授所有常规课程。40名非EMS教师的对照组将从条件2的同一所学校中选出，他们有独立的教学任务（条件3）。更聪明的平衡评估将提供一个基线测量学生的先前成绩在三年级，也是一个衡量的数学成绩的四年级学生教的120名教师在研究中。项目团队将分析与特定教师相关的学生数学成绩。由于小学生通常被组织进行教学的方式（例如，一名教师负责向25 - 30名学生教授所有科目）。由于小学教师必须了解许多内容领域，他们很少深入研究数学，即使有越来越多的证据表明，专业数学知识对学生学习成果的影响。本研究仔细研究了另一种模式，在那里的小学教师在数学教学和学习的特殊培训分配给一个以上的单一班级的学生进行数学教学。研究结果将提供证据证明认证作为一个小学数学专家和教学在学生学习的部门分配的影响。研究结果将有助于学校和地区领导更好地规划工作人员的分配，为所有学生提供高质量的数学教学。

This research investigates student mathematics learning outcomes at the elementary level in relation to teacher expertise (elementary teachers with math specialist certification versus generally prepared elementary teachers) and school organization (departmentalized versus self-contained mathematics classrooms). University of Missouri researchers will organize and facilitate the research in multiple Missouri public and private school sites. Findings will provide evidence of the impact of content-specific teacher expertise and a departmentalized school organizational model that offers students access to well-qualified teachers of mathematics with no additional staffing costs. To investigate the impact of teacher expertise and school organization on student learning experimental, quasi-experimental, and qualitative designs are employed. Specifically, 80 teachers who have earned state certification as Elementary Mathematics Specialists (hereafter, "EMS teachers") will be selected to participate in the study. Employing a randomized experimental design, half of the EMS teachers will be assigned to teach in a departmental model (Condition 1) in their school, teaching two or more sections of grade 4 mathematics. The other half will remain in generalist (hereafter, self-contained) positions (Condition 2) in their school, teaching all regular subjects to a single class of students. A comparison group of 40 non-EMS teachers with self-contained teaching assignments (Condition 3) will be selected from the same schools in Condition 2. The Smarter Balanced assessment will provide a baseline measure of students' prior achievement in grade 3 and also a measure of the mathematics achievement of grade 4 students taught by the 120 teachers in the study. The project team will analyze student-level mathematics scores linked with specific teachers. Improving student achievement in mathematics at the elementary level is particularly challenging due to the way elementary students are generally organized for instruction (e.g., one teacher responsible for teaching all subjects to 25-30 students). Because elementary teachers must be knowledgeable about many content areas, they rarely study mathematics in depth, even though there is a growing body of evidence showing the impact of specialized mathematical knowledge for teaching on student learning outcomes. This study carefully researches an alternative model, where elementary teachers with special training in mathematics teaching and learning are assigned more than one single class of students for mathematics instruction. Findings from the research will provide evidence about the impact of both certification as an elementary mathematics specialist and teaching in a departmental assignment on student learning. The results will help school and district leaders better plan for assignment of staff to provide all students with access to high quality mathematics instruction.