IES Evaluations and Data Collection Instruments

Lauren Angelo National Center for Education Evaluation

and

Sally Atkins-BurnettMathematica Policy Research (MPR)

Lauren.angelo@ed.gov

SAtkins-Burnett@mathematica-mpr.com

Today’s Presentation

• NCEE Studies that Involve Mathematics

• Developing Criteria for Choosing an Instrument

• Assessing Teacher Knowledge in the NCEE Math PD

Study

• Assessing Student Achievement in the NCEE Math PD

Study

• Assessing Classroom Practice in the NCEE Math

Curricula Study

NCEE Studies that Include Mathematics

http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/

Impact Evaluation of a Professional Development Model in Math

Impact Evaluation of Math Curricula

Impact Evaluation of Education Technology

Impact Evaluation of Academic Instruction for After-School Programs

Program Selection and Design for an Evaluation of the Impact of Academically Focused Career and Technical Education (CTE)

Evaluation of Promising “Boost Up” Math Programs

The Impact of a Professional Development Model in Math

Research Question: What is the impact on teacher knowledge, teacher practice, and student achievement of providing 7th grade teachers with intensive professional development that focuses on common student misconceptions in the areas of fractions, decimals, ratio, and proportion?

Intervention: A professional development intervention consisting of a three-day summer institute, five one-day seminars held during the school year, and 10 days of intensive in-school coaching. Targeted approach focused on foundational math concepts and strategies for improving instruction.

Design: School-level randomized trial, 16 districts (8 schools per district), approximately 200 7th grade teachers

Schedule: August 2005-2010; Currently preparing for implementation and data collection

Math PD

Content Knowledge

Pedagogical Content

Knowledge

InstructionStudent

Achievement

The Impact of a Professional Development Model in Math

NCEE Math PD Teacher Knowledge Test

General Instrument Criteria• Content Coverage• Adequate Psychometrics

• Reliability and Validity• Test Properties• Administration Considerations

NCEE Math PD Teacher Knowledge Test Criteria• Adequate and even rational number coverage• Math – Common Content Knowledge (CCK)• Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)• Sensitive to growth for our population of teachers• 30- to 40-minute administration • 3 Parallel forms

Purpose: Assess teacher knowledge of math content and pedagogy

NCEE Math PD Teacher Knowledge TestItem Development and Review • Fit the framework• Accurate content• Appropriate for population• Standards of good items (one correct answer, appropriate and plausible distracters)

Piloting• Item difficulty• Biserial correlations• Distracter analysis

NCEE Math PD Teacher Knowledge Test Framework

Key Math Areas 

CCK 

PCK* 

Total

Fractions and Decimals

  6

  6

  12

 Ratios, Proportions, and

Percents

  6

  6

  12

   12

 12

 24

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) *

Planning Instruction

Assessing Understanding

Delivering Instruction

Current Status: Piloting

Data Collection: To be Completed Spring 2009

NCEE MATH PD Student Achievement Test Criteria• Ample coverage of rational number content across various difficulty levels for students in study• Sensitive to growth• Multiple forms, machine scoring, 40 minutes or less

NCEE Math PD Student Achievement TestPurpose: Assess student math achievement in rational number content that could assess growth

General Instrument Criteria• Content Coverage• Adequate Psychometrics

• Reliability and Validity• Test Properties• Administration Considerations

Chose to Use Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) Measures of Academic Progress in Mathematics

• Item bank• Rational number content• Adaptive test• Computer administered

Customization/Development:• Customization to specific parameters• Items supplemented to ensure coverage across difficulty levels for

each content area

NCEE Math PD Study Student Achievement Test

Current Status: Inclusion of new items

Data Collection: To begin this fall

Evaluation of Math Curricula

Research Question: What is the relative effectiveness of different math curricula on student achievement in early elementary school? Under what condition is each curriculum most effective? What is the relationship between teacher knowledge of math content and pedagogy and the effectiveness of math curricula?

Intervention: 4 math curricula for elementary school students (grade 1 and 2)

Design: Randomized trial, schools are randomly assigned to one of the four curricula (Investigations in Number, Data, and Space (PSF); Math Expressions (HM); Saxon Math (HA); Scott Foresman-Addison Welsey (PSF))

Schedule: September 2005-2009 with an optional year; Curricula currently being implemented (2006-2007) in first-grade classrooms; next year curricula will be implemented in both first and second grades.