Research on teacher learning has suffered from a number of chronic methodological
difficulties. Despite repeated calls for improved scholarship and more
empirically grounded policy recommendations, the field been constrained
by what scholars have been able to measure: characteristics of the learning
opportunities themselves; teacher attitudes and beliefs which result from
those opportunities; and, to some extent, teacher practices which emerge
after such encounters. Typically left unmeasured, however, is a component
which mediates each of these and is itself a significant target of many
interventions, namely, teachers' content knowledge. The project proposed
here would aim to help redress this problem in the area of K-8 mathematics,
building on previous work to continue developing measures of teachers'
mathematical knowledge for teaching. These measures will then be made
available to MSP mathematics projects in hopes of improving the evaluation
of those with programs for teacher learning and preparation.
Five
categories of work are proposed: (1) expanding existing measures upward
to capture middle grade mathematics content for teaching, and developing
new measures in key content areas; (2) validating these measures through
interviews with MSP participants and other teachers, reviews by mathematicians
and mathematics educators, and other means; (3) supporting high-quality
uses of these measures via tools (database, core scales) and technical
assistance to MSP evaluators; (4) building a self-sustaining system of
measures use; and (5) building and testing theory through piloting and
validation work. As these five aspects of work progress, we will carefully
consider issues of equity, both from the theoretical and measurement perspectives.
We will also consult with measurement and statistical experts to promote
the production of the most technically sound and valid measures possible.
Intellectual Merit
This proposal will help advance knowledge and
understanding in two related fields: in defining the component elements
of knowledge for teaching K-8 mathematics, and in understanding the effects
of professional development meant to improve that knowledge. The authors
are qualified to do this work through their past experiences with theory
and measures development, and have laid out a careful plan of instrument
development over a five-year period.
Broader Impact
This proposal
enhances the infrastructure for research into teacher professional development.
Based on interest in existing measures, the authors expect these measures
to be useful not only to MSPs, but also to others who seek to understand
teacher learning. These measures can be used to evaluate teachers' learning
in pre-service teacher education programs; to make comparisons between
preparation in traditional teacher education programs and alternative
routes to certification; to judge the efficacy of professional development
aimed at improving teachers' content knowledge for teaching; and to estimate
the effects of curriculum materials designed to improve teachers' knowledge
of mathematics and students. Finally, this project contributes fundamentally
to theory development, asking the question, "What do teachers need to
know and be able to do with mathematics in order to teach mathematics?"
By answering this question through item-writing and psychometric analyses
as work progresses, the authors seek to contribute to progress in theory,
practice, and policy in this field.
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