How Novice Elementary Teachers' Social Networks Affect Ambitious Math Instruction

本研究试图通过新教师的社会网络来确定其影响数学教学的机制。研究人员将收集调查、课程计划、课堂观察、教师任务和学生作业样本，这些样本来自三个州不同地区的200名教师，他们的标准和州评估的背景不同。本研究利用社会网络分析框架，基于对初任教师数学教学知识的测量，以及初任教师社会网络的特征及其相互作用，对初任教师未来使用雄心数学教学的教学质量评估进行建模。定性分析将用于支持模型的结果。本研究采用跨学科方法，整合了认知成分（关注教师的知识）和社会学成分（关注教师的社会背景），以了解新手雄心勃勃的数学教学的计划和实施。目前还没有大规模的研究使用这种方法来衡量这些因素如何影响新手的数学教学。本研究将有助于了解影响初等小学教师职业生涯早期学习的因素。本研究旨在探讨初任小学教师的数学教学如何受到他人的知识分享、行为和期望的影响，以增进对STEM学习环境的认识和理解。改善数学教育的一个关键问题是对初任小学数学教师的支持，特别是随着各年级初任教师数量的增加。本项目由美国教育与学习研究计划（Research on Education and Learning program）资助，将对中西部三个州的200名初任小学教师及其支持网络进行研究，采用创新的社交网络研究方法，了解教师知识与教学实践之间的关系，以及同行和管理者对初任教师未来教学实践的影响。重要的是，各地区要组织人力资本和专业发展，大力支持这些初级小学教师教授数学，以提高学生的成绩。本研究结果将提供建议，以指导学校和地区应在何时为初任教师提供与他们的数学知识相关的入门和专业发展计划，以及如何帮助初任教师应对校本规范、课程标准、教师评估工具和外部专业发展之间可能出现的冲突。

The study seeks to identify the mechanisms through novice teachers' social networks shape their mathematics instruction. The researchers will collect surveys, lesson plans, classroom observations, teacher tasks, and student work samples from 200 teachers across districts in three states with different contexts around standards and state assessments. Using social network analyses frameworks, the study will model the novice teachers' future teaching using ambitious mathematics instruction as measured by the Instructional Quality Assessment based on measures of these teachers' mathematical knowledge for teaching, and use of ambitious mathematics instruction and characteristics of the novice teachers' social network, as well as their interactions. Qualitative analyses will be used to support the results from the models. This study is framed by an interdisciplinary approach that integrates a cognitive component (focused on teachers' knowledge) and a sociological component (focused on the social context of teachers) in order to understand novices' planning and enactment of ambitious math instruction. No large-scale studies have used such an approach to measure how these factors shape novices' math instruction. The work will contribute to understanding factors that influence beginning elementary teachers learning in the early stages of their careers.This study will advance knowledge and understanding of STEM learning environments by examining how novice elementary teachers' math instruction is influenced by the knowledge sharing, behavior, and expectations of others. A key issue in the improvement of mathematics education is the support beginning elementary teachers of mathematics, particularly as the number of beginning teachers increases at all grade levels. This project, funded in the Research on Education and Learning program, will study 200 novice elementary teachers and their support networks in schools in three Midwestern states, using innovative research methods in social networking to understand the relationships among teacher knowledge, teaching practice, and the influence of their peers and administrators on the novice teachers' future teaching practice. It is important for districts to organize human capital and professional development in ways that strongly support these novice elementary teachers in teaching mathematics for increased student achievement. The results of the study will provide recommendations for when schools and districts should provide induction and professional development programs for novice teachers related to their mathematical knowledge for teaching and how they can help novices respond to possible conflicts among school-based norms, curricular standards, teacher evaluation instruments, and external professional development.