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Eric.ed.gov – Understanding the Meaning of Rural within a Middle School Mathematics Professional Development and Research Project in Nebraska. Working Paper No. 40

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Improving teacher quality in P-12 mathematics is a national need, and many universities and schools are working to address it. With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF), twelve math and science institutes across the country are helping P-12 teachers strengthen their capacity to support students’ learning. These NSF Institutes operate under the leadership of STEM university faculty, representing colleges of arts and science as well as colleges of education. The strategy is to build capacity by improving teachers’ content knowledge, pedagogy, and leadership skills. One such venture is The Math in the Middle Institute Partnership (M2) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). As part of their efforts to understand the place of rural in M2, the research team systematically interviewed the 63 rural participants from… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The OECD, PISA and the Impacts on Educational Policy

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Large-scale assessment regularly takes place in most jurisdictions across Canada, a fact not lost on the Fraser Institute and other right wing think tanks such as AIMS (Atlantic Institute for Market Studies) which use the test results as the primary basis for compiling school rankings at both the elementary and secondary level (see Gutstein, 2010). The frequency of external testing at different levels (provincial/territorial, national, international)–coupled with the high visibility accorded by the mainstream media to the results, usually in the form of league tables, and the imperatives of short term political mandates–have all contributed to a focus on improving one’s position within the list of rankings, as well as to a narrow focus on the tested subjects–math, science, reading. In this era of accountability-by-numbers, the elevated… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Review of “Cross-Country Evidence on Teacher Performance Pay”

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The primary claim of this Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance report and the abridged Education Next version is that nations “that pay teachers on their performance score higher on PISA tests.” After statistically controlling for several variables, the author concludes that nations with some form of merit pay system have, on average, higher reading and math scores on this international test of 15-year-old students. Although the author lists numerous caveats, his broad conclusions do not heed these cautions. The fundamental differences among countries in the types of performance pay system are not properly considered. Nations are simply lumped together as having or not having a performance pay plan. Also, the length of time the program had been in place in each country is not addressed… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Using Drawings to Bridge the Transition from Student to Future Teacher of Mathematics

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study examines a group of prospective teachers’ reflections upon the way they were taught (Set 1) and the way they want to teach (Set 2) through drawings which respectively describe their past learning experiences as students and their future plans as teachers. The purpose of this study is to identify: (a) the emerging themes that appear in each set of drawing data, (b) the possible factors that influence prospective teachers’ drawings, and (c) the implications for mathematics teacher educators. Overall, prospective teachers showed predominantly negative or mixed feelings about their past experiences as mathematics students. In response to their own past negative experiences and struggles, the prospective teachers tended to highlight emotionally supportive classroom environment and versatile instructional teaching strategies in their future plans. This study… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Equitable Access to Highly Effective Teachers for Tennessee Students

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Decades of research have confirmed that teachers are the most important in-school factor for improving student achievement. Furthermore, studies find that access to effective teachers is most critical for students who struggle academically. Data from Tennessee shows that, on average, students who score at the lowest proficiency level see the largest gains after having a highly effective teacher for two or more consecutive years. Yet, low-performing students are less likely than their higher-performing peers to have access to the best teachers. To improve student achievement for all students, we must work toward ensuring that all students have access to effective teachers and that our lowest-performing students are not systemically assigned to lower-performing teachers. With this goal in mind, this report describes the current landscape of Tennessee students’… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Exploring the Influence of Pre-Service Mathematics Teachers’ Professed Beliefs on Their Practices in the Sri Lankan Context

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Research on impact of teacher beliefs on their practices has been recognized as one of the important aspects in the discipline of mathematics education. This study reports the results of a case study that gives an insight about the influence of professed beliefs of pre-service secondary mathematics teachers on their instructional practices in the Sri Lankan context. The pre-service teachers’ professed beliefs were examined by using a questionnaire of six-point Likert scale items. Data on instructional practices were collected through classroom teaching observations and follow-up post-lesson interviews. Qualitative analysis of the audio-taped classroom teaching observation transcripts was performed, using a list of sensitizing concepts that reflected flexible and rigid beliefs aspects. The results reveal that professed beliefs encouraged them to adopt flexible practices, but to differing extents… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Use of GeoGebra in Primary Math Education in Lithuania: An Exploratory Study from Teachers’ Perspective

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: With the advance of information and communications technologies, new teaching tools are becoming more pervasive. These tools can be utilized in a variety of ways to improve and enhance math teaching. Considering the integration of technology in teaching mathematics, it is clear that the replacement of board and chalk with digital presentation material does not cover all the aspects of the mathematic subjects. One of the important prerequisites for quality of integration technology into mathematics teaching is the teacher’s personality, i.e. knowledge, willingness and desire to improve his/her lessons bringing mathematics closer to the present generations of pupils. GeoGebra as a dynamic mathematics software allows users to explore multiple representations of mathematics concepts. The paper deals with the problem of deployment of GeoGebra in Lithuanian’s primary math… Continue Reading