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Eric.ed.gov – Tracking Transfer of Reform: Tracking Transfer of Reform Methodology from Science and Math College Courses to the Teaching Style of Beginning Teachers of Grades 5-12. Technical Report.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of this study was to determine whether reformed science and math courses at community colleges and universities were impacting education majors as they began a teaching career. The reformed courses, in contrast to typical lecture classes, implemented inquiry-based methods that emphasized deep understanding of fundamental science and math concepts. Trained evaluators, utilizing the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP) gathered a total of 86 classroom observations to gauge the level of reform that beginning teachers (1-3 years teaching experience) were implementing in grades 5-12. The preservice experience of the beginning teachers varied from having had zero to four reform courses. Results indicated that teachers who had completed reform college courses instructed in a significantly more reformed manner. Furthermore, analysis of years of teaching experience revealed that,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Proceedings of the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group = Actes de la Rencontre Annuelle 2009 du Groupe Canadien d’Etude en Didactique des Mathematiques (33rd, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, June 5-9, 2009)

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This submission contains the Proceedings of the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Canadian Mathematics Education Study Group (CMESG), held at York University in Toronto, Ontario. The CMESG is a group of mathematicians and mathematics educators who meet annually to discuss mathematics education issues at all levels of learning. The aims of the Study Group are: to advance education by organizing and coordinating national conferences and seminars to study and improve the theories of the study of mathematics or any other aspects of mathematics education in Canada at all levels; and to undertake research in mathematics education and to disseminate the results of this research. These proceedings include plenary lectures, working group reports, topic session descriptions, new PhD reports, and summaries of ad hoc sessions. Papers include: (1)… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – A Final Case Study of SCALE Activities at California State University, Northridge: How Institutional Context Influenced a K-20 STEM Education Change Initiative. WCER Working Paper No. 2009-5

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This qualitative case study reports on processes and outcomes of the National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded System-Wide Change for All Learners and Educators (SCALE) project at the California State University, Northridge (CSUN). It addresses a critical challenge in studying systemic reform in complex organizations: the lack of methodologies that incorporate technical, social, cultural, and cognitive elements. Guiding questions include (a) how the institutional context influenced the project, (b) whether project activities affected science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction, interdisciplinary collaboration on preservice programs, and inter-institutional collaboration on in-service programs, and (c) if and how change initiatives are accepted and incorporated. In-depth interviews (N = 34), relevant documents, and observation data were collected in 2006 and 2007. Findings identified several factors that supported and several that inhibited achievement… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – A Teacher for Every Classroom: New Teachers in the Baltimore City Public Schools, 1999-2004

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study, commissioned by The Abell Foundation, analyzes new teachers hired by the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) over the past several years. In particular, the study compares different categories of new teachers: those with full professional certification, teachers in alternative certification programs (Teach for America, the BCPSS Teaching Residency Program, and Project SITE SUPPORT), and conditionally (formerly provisionally) certified teachers who were not participating in alternative programs. This preliminary study lays the foundation for future research in which this relationship can be examined. This study sought to address whether alternatively certified teachers provided the school system with: (1) More subject area expertise at secondary level (measured by college major or minor) than available from other new teachers; (2) Higher PRAXIS scores (PRAXIS 1, PRAXIS 2a… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Influences on Beginning Teachers’ Literacy-Related Instructional Beliefs: A Longitudinal Case-Study Comparison of Five Non-Traditional Math and Science Teachers.

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This paper reports on a study to document influences on five beginning mathematics and science teachers’ instructional beliefs after a preservice methods course in secondary literacy. The participants were former military officers who had selected teaching as a second career. The study looked at: the teachers’ beliefs about uses of literacy in their content instruction from preservice through the second teaching year; influences the teachers perceived as affecting their beliefs; and how and why the teachers’ beliefs about literacy in their content instruction changed or remained constant over the 3-year period. Results showed: all five teachers’ beliefs had been influenced by the methods course; the teachers’ instructional beliefs became more elaborate and specific during their student teaching and first year of teaching; as student teachers, they were… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Action Research as First Year Faculty: Exploring the Path Less Taken

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Students enter Emily Daniels’ and Maureen Squires’ combined Bachelor of Arts/Master’s in the Science of Teaching Program as undergraduates or move into their MST Program as Master’s candidates matriculating after they have earned Bachelor’s degree elsewhere. Both groups of students take the research class during their first semester of graduate work. The students are seeking certification in childhood or adolescent education in the content areas including math, science (e.g., biology, geology, chemistry, physics), English, social studies, and foreign languages (e.g., Spanish, French). The yearlong research course opens with a focus on general information and the exploration of educational research, which leads to the development of a collaborative research proposal during their first semester. Their second semester is dedicated to implementing the research project through the collection and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Does Teach for America Have Long-Term Impacts?

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Children enter school with vastly different skill levels and formal schooling often magnifies these disparities over time. Widening achievement gaps between high- and low-income children have grown substantially in the last 50 years. Further, the opportunity gap facing most low-income students contributes to a host of academic and social challenges including: lower performance in math and reading, increased truancy and incarceration, less higher-level course taking, and lower graduation and college entrance rates than their higher-income peers, and these disparities are not new. Teach For America (TFA) was founded with the purpose of addressing these educational inequities. Early on in its existence, TFA became focused on “closing the achievement gap” for students in the schools it serves, and put a large stake in promoting, “significant gains,” (defined as… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – WWC Quick Review of the Report “Impacts of Comprehensive Teacher Induction: Results from the First Year of a Randomized Controlled Study”

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The selected study examined the effects of comprehensive teacher induction (CTI) programs on teacher outcomes and student achievement. Within participating school districts, schools were randomly assigned to offer their beginning teachers either a CTI program or the district’s standard induction program. Within the group participating in CTI, the study examined CTI’s effects on teacher practice and teacher retention. This review examines the study’s teacher retention analysis. Study authors reported no statistically significant effects of the CTI program on teacher retention rates after one year, nor on the proportion who remained in the teaching profession a year later. Authors also reported no effects of the CTI program on student reading or math achievement. What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) found the analysis of teacher outcomes to be consistent with WWC… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Digital Storytelling: A Tool for Teaching and Learning in the YouTube Generation

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Say the phrase “Charlie bit my finger,” and just about every human being with Internet access visualizes the viral video clip of baby Charlie precociously biting the finger of his brother. With almost 200 million views, this video represents just one of thousands of viral videos that form a core component of modern entertainment, news, and advertising. These snippets that people e-mail, post, and pass on to one another faster than the common cold have rapidly moved from the fringe of youth culture to the mainstream. What if teachers could capitalize on student interest in these quick and quirky video clips as a way to help students connect with curriculum? That is exactly what Tyler Binkley, a first-year teacher and member of the YouTube generation, has set… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – “Who Leaves?” Teacher Attrition and Student Achievement. Working Paper 23

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This paper analyzes attrition patterns among teachers in New York City public elementary and middle schools and explores whether teachers who transfer among schools, or leave teaching entirely, are more or less effective than those who remain. We find that the first-year teachers who are less effective in improving student math scores have higher attrition rates than do more effective teachers. The first-year differences are meaningful in size; however, the pattern is not consistent for teachers in their second and third years. Attrition patterns differ between schools having disproportionate numbers of low- vs. high-scoring students. A relatively high percentage of the ineffective first-year teachers in low-scoring schools leave teaching altogether; whereas inefficient first-year teachers in higher-scoring schools disproportionately transfer within NYC. In general, first-year teachers who transfer,… Continue Reading