DYNAMIC PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: Strategies to Guide and Assess Teacher Growth

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 2008National 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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2000-2001

Grades 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-present

Teachers 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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5

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

€

3

5

€

2

5

€

2

5

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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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Contact usjgawronski@projects.sdsu.edu

nbezuk@mail.sdsu.edu

sklass@projects.sdsu.edu

Slides and samples available http://pdc.sdsu.edu

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