dynamic professional development: strategies to guide and assess teacher growth
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DYNAMIC PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Strategies to Guide and Assess Teacher Growth. Jane Gawronski, Nadine Bezuk, and Steve Klass. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics - Annual Conference, April 2008. Today’s Session. Welcome and introductions Who we are - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
DYNAMIC PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Strategies to Guide and Assess Teacher Growth
Jane Gawronski, Nadine Bezuk, and Steve KlassNational Council of Teachers of Mathematics - Annual Conference, April 2008
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Today’s Session
Welcome and introductions Who we are What we do in our professional development Impact of our work on student achievement
and teacher practice Questions and discussion
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Who We Are
San Diego State University Professional Development Collaborative (PDC)
http://pdc.sdsu.edu Supported by a $5.1M grant from to Improve Student
Achievement in Mathematics (ISAM).
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2000-2001Grades 4-6 low-performing schools
(San Diego Unified School District)
Grades 4-6 team teachers(SDUSD)
Grades 4-6 teachers(SDUSD)
Grades K-3 teachers(SDUSD)
2006-presentTeachers from multiple districts K-12
History of Our Professional Development Work
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Professional Development
Face-to-face– San Diego Unified School District (K-12)
– Lemon Grove School District (K-8)*
– Ramona Unified School District (K-12)
– Sweetwater Union High School District (7-12)
*Blended online and face-to-face sessions Math Specialist Certificate Program (MSCP)
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What Makes it Dynamic? PD leaders jointly plan and conduct
sessions– The “math content leader” looks at the
goals through a mathematics lens.– The “math ed leader” looks at the goals
through a instructional practice lens. Constant revision based on needs of
participants– One size does NOT fit all!
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Impact on Student Achievement and Teacher Practice
Student AchievementTeacher GrowthContentPedagogy
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Student Achievement State-mandated test: CA Standards Test
(CST) Matched-pairs study in Year 6 (2006)
Students taught by MSCP teacher were paired with students taught by teacher without MSCP 22 teachers 580 pairs of students
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Matched Pairs Study
Major criteria for matching Same grade level Same initial raw score on CST
mathematics section School with same Academic
Performance Index (API)
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Matched Pairs Results
Mean score of students with MSCP teacher was significantly greater than mean score of students with non-MSCP teacher
Students in lower API schools were impacted more than students in higher API schools
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Assessing and GuidingTeacher Growth
Mathematics content knowledge and pedagogy
Informal assessment using “Try-it-on” Embedded assessments Changes reported by teachers Impact on practice
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Mathematics Content and Pedagogy
San Diego State University developed assessments Including University of Michigan Items
Embedded assessments
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Impact on Teachers’ Content Knowledge
Pre- and post-tests Number and operations Rational numbers Geometry
In every cohort the mean scores increased from pre-test to post-test
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Guiding Teacher Knowledge Through “Try-it-on” Tasks
Tasks developed for teachers to implement with their students
Teachers bring student work to subsequent PD sessions for analysis with colleagues
Teacher sharing informs PD leaders
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Try-It-On Task – Grades 3-5
“Most said it means to find the answer.”◼“Many students were shocked to see this, and I know it was part of the 4th grade curriculum.”◼“I had a lot of students go OOOOOHHH, that’s right.”
8 + 4 = + 5
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Try-It-On Task – Grades 6–8 Proportional reasoning:
Punch Problem: If a gallon of punch will serve 12 people, how much punch would you prepare for a party at which you will have 50 guests? (Lamon, p. 111)
Most students did not use a proportion to solve this, though the procedure had been “taught”.
Teachers expressed surprise and conjectured that even though their students could solve a proportion, they may not be reasoning proportionally.
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Try-It-On Task – Grades K-3 Triangle or Not a Triangle
Fall: case study presented to teachers, and student pre-assessments in identifying triangles carried out by teachers
Winter: discussions during PD sessions designed to increase teacher content knowledge about triangles; teachers return to classrooms with try-it-on task for students using concept cards developed by teachers.
Spring: geometry project; student post-assessments; teacher analysis and discussion of results in PD sessions.
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Triangle or Not a Triangle?
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Embedded Assessments
Assessment items embedded into professional development sessions
Minimized testing time taken from instruction during PD sessions
Springboard for instruction - linked to PD More authentic feel for teachers
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Assessing Teacher Knowledge Through Embedded Assessments
Tasks developed for teachers of Grades 6 – Algebra I Jay’s Lesson Qualitative graph
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Jay’s Lesson Jay was talking with Allison, his 9th grade
student, They were talking about the following word problem:
Suppose you have a large piece of fish that weighs
4 pounds. You are making servings from this large
fish. Each serving will weigh of a pound. How
many servings can you make from the fish?
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Allison drew the following picture to help her solve the problem:
Jay: How many servings do we have? Alison: 6 and 2 left over. So each serving is and then… , right? Jay: 6 is the answer?Alison: I’m thinking ‘cause there’s two left over out of 5.
How would you respond to this student? 22
Jay’s Lesson
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Qualitative Graph Write a story about a journey that could be
represented by the following graph. Make sure to tell what happened in each lettered section.
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Changes Reported by TeachersQuestion: “As a result of this program, . . .”
% Responding
“Yes”
Do you have a better understanding of mathematics?
94%
Has your mathematics teaching changed? 98%
Have your beliefs changed? 87%
Have your expectations of what students should know and be able to do mathematically changed?
85%
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Impact on Teachers’ Instructional Practices
Teachers report that they now:
Try new strategies in their classrooms; Select among many tools including the
textbook, the pacing guide, and CGI principles; and
Recognize good mathematical problems from the text that will help students meet the standards.
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One Teacher’s Comments About Our Impact on Her Teaching
“I feel my knowledge and understanding of mathematics has been expanded to the point where I will never teach math the same again. I know too much about group/partner work, using manipulatives; reflective writing, student-directed teaching, student responsibility. In short, I feel enlightened. I feel I finally understand math.”
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Questions/Discussion
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