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Eric.ed.gov – Teacher Training, Teacher Quality, and Student Achievement. Working Paper 3

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: We study the effects of various types of education and training on the ability of teachers to promote student achievement. Previous studies on the subject have been hampered by inadequate measures of teacher training and difficulties addressing the non-random selection of teachers to students and of teachers to training. We address these issues by estimating models that include detailed measures of pre-service and in-service training, a rich set of time-varying covariates, and student, teacher, and school fixed effects. Our results suggest that only two of the forms of teacher training we study influence productivity. First, content-focused teacher professional development is positively associated with productivity in middle and high school math. Second, more experienced teachers appear more effective in teaching elementary math and reading and middle school math.… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Professional Learning Activities in Context: A Statewide Survey of Middle School Mathematics Teachers

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Based on a statewide survey of professional learning activities among 577 middle school mathematics teachers in Missouri, this study examined two questions: 1) What professional learning activities do middle school math teachers participate in and how much time do they spend in these activities?, and 2) How are teacher qualifications and contextual characteristics associated with the amount of their professional learning activities? The study examined seven types of formal and informal professional learning activities: 1) professional development programs, 2) teacher collaboration, 3) university courses, 4) professional conferences, 5) mentoring/coaching, 6) informal communications, and 7) individual learning activities. The study found that middle school mathematics teachers spend the greatest amount of time involved in teacher collaboration, professional development programs, and individual learning activities. In addition, mathematics teachers in… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Developing Empirical Benchmarks of Teacher Knowledge Effect Sizes in Studies of Professional Development Effectiveness

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Growing interest in teaching quality and accountability has focused attention on the need for rigorous studies and evaluations of professional development (PD) programs. However, the study of PD has been hampered by a lack of suitable instruments. The authors present data from the Teacher Knowledge Assessment System (TKAS), which was designed to administer Learning Mathematics for Teaching (LMT) measures. TKAS is being widely adopted in the evaluation of PD programs with over 500 separate program administrations and 16,000 teachers representing every major region in the country. The purpose of the current study was to leverage the TKAS dataset to develop a set of empirical benchmarks of effect sizes for designing rigorous studies of teacher professional development programs. The research design consisted of two goals: (1) to investigate… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Right Trajectory: State Teachers of the Year Compare Former and New State Assessments

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: “The Right Trajectory” brings to the forefront an often-overlooked voice in the debate about new state assessments developed in consortia: that of the best teachers in the country. This research suggests, despite challenges still to overcome, that these front-line experts believe that the new consortia tests are an improvement on the former assessments and so represent movement in the right direction for students and for education in their states. What do great teachers think of the new assessments compared to the previous ones? As part of state transitions to college and career ready (CCR) standards, including the Common Core State Standards in more than 40 states (NGA & CCSSO, 2010), states are for the first time administering new summative assessments aligned to those standards and aiming for… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Designing Professional Learning Communities through Understanding the Beliefs of Learning

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: This study was designed to initiate the process of building professional development learning communities for pre-service math teachers through revealing those teachers’ conceptions/beliefs of students’ learning and their own learning in China. It examines Chinese pre-service math teachers’ conceptions of student learning and their related pedagogical beliefs with respect to the following four aspects: self-regulation, construction of knowledge, the social nature of learning, and a dynamic view of ability. A total of 129 middle-school and secondary pre-service math teachers from China participated in this study. The results indicated that the Chinese pre-service teachers’ conceptions of student learning and their pedagogical beliefs are constructive, process-oriented, and progressive. In addition, the traditional Chinese socio-cultural values still have an impact on the pre-service teachers’ conceptions of student learning. Implications and… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Attitudes of Students and Teachers towards the Use of Interactive Whiteboards in Elementary and Secondary School Classrooms

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Recently much have been invested in the interactive whiteboard educational technology in Turkey. The government is still wishful to spread it to schools of all levels. This study tries to understand teachers’ and students’ attitudes toward interactive whiteboard technology along with differences in attitudes resulting from some demographic factors. Two parallel surveys consisting of 25 items were applied to 255 students and 23 teachers from three private schools. Students from sixth to twelfth grades and teachers from 15 different branches participated in this research study. The results indicate that interactive whiteboards are highly rated by both teachers and students. Students mostly prefer the usage of interactive whiteboards in math courses, and their attitudes differ across their genders and school levels. As students get elder, their positive attitudes… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Middle School Science and Mathematics Teachers’ Conceptions of the Nature of Science: A One-Year Study on the Effects of Explicit and Reflective Online Instruction

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education has become one of the main priorities in the United States. Science education communities and researchers advocate for integration of STEM disciplines throughout the teaching curriculum. This requires teacher knowledge in STEM disciplines, as well as competence in scientific literacy. Since nature of science (NOS) is a critical component of scientific literacy, this study examined teachers’ conceptions NOS over a one-year period. Participants included 21 middle school science and mathematics teachers who integrated science and mathematics in their classrooms. We employed two NOS instruments to collect data on participants’ NOS conceptions “before” and “after” a one-year online graduate program. This study examined changes in NOS understanding for the group as a whole, between science and mathematics teachers, and whether beginning… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Investigation of Parents’ Expectations from Mathematics Education in Turkey

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In this study, the expectations of middle school students’ parents regarding to “conceptual understanding and active student participation” “positive attitude and behavior attitude” and “authority and rule-oriented teaching” were examined. A valid and reliable threefactor instrument developed by the Aytekin, Baltaci, Altunkaya, Kiymaz and Yildiz (2016) was used in collecting parents’ expectations. 749 parents participated in the study. It was found that the variables of parental gender, parental age range, and monthly income of the parents, level of loving mathematics and level of helping the child have no significant effect on the expectations. The university graduates had less authority and rule-oriented teaching expectation than the remaining parents. Besides, it is seen that the 5th grade parents had higher expectations of conceptual understanding and active participation and positive… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Addressing Teacher Shortages in Disadvantaged Schools: Lessons from Two Institute of Education Sciences Studies. NCEE Evaluation Brief. NCEE 2013-4018

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Schools serving low-income students struggle to attract effective teachers, particularly in science and math. In response to these staffing difficulties, states have tried to lower the barriers to becoming a teacher by establishing “alternative routes to certification.” These routes enable teachers to begin teaching before completing all the requirements for certification and, in many cases, require less education coursework than traditional teacher preparation routes in the same states. Currently, as many as two-fifths of new teachers enter the profession through alternative routes. Most programs providing alternative routes to certification admit most applicants, although a few, including Teach For America and the Teaching Fellows programs, are highly selective, admitting fewer than 15 percent of applicants. To provide evidence on the effectiveness of teachers from alternative routes to certification,… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Performance and Preparation: Alignment between Student Achievement, Teacher Ratings, and Parent Perceptions in Urban Middle-Grades Mathematics Classrooms

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The middle grades are a critical transition period in students’ mathematics trajectories, as students move from arithmetic to the more complex and abstract concepts of algebra. Teachers’ and parents’ judgments of students’ math abilities in these years are important to instructional planning and decision making for teachers, and can advise parents and students on future course placement. This study specifically examined teacher and parent judgments of students’ performance and preparedness for the next grade level in 5th and 6th grades mathematics. Results demonstrate that teacher and parent perceptions of students’ abilities are not calibrated to national norms, but to local contexts. Our findings are similar to other work suggesting that high poverty school contexts may provide teachers and parents a false comparative context for judging how well… Continue Reading