The Perceived Relationship of Leadership Behaviors to Teacher Preparedness for Implementing Connecticut's Core Standards in Mathematics and Use of Math Practices Aligned with Key Shifts in the Common Core

The Perceived Relationship of Leadership Behaviors to Teacher Preparedness for Implementing Connecticut's Core Standards in Mathematics and Use of Math Practices Aligned with Key Shifts in the Common Core PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood

Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309147433
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Early childhood mathematics is vitally important for young children's present and future educational success. Research demonstrates that virtually all young children have the capability to learn and become competent in mathematics. Furthermore, young children enjoy their early informal experiences with mathematics. Unfortunately, many children's potential in mathematics is not fully realized, especially those children who are economically disadvantaged. This is due, in part, to a lack of opportunities to learn mathematics in early childhood settings or through everyday experiences in the home and in their communities. Improvements in early childhood mathematics education can provide young children with the foundation for school success. Relying on a comprehensive review of the research, Mathematics Learning in Early Childhood lays out the critical areas that should be the focus of young children's early mathematics education, explores the extent to which they are currently being incorporated in early childhood settings, and identifies the changes needed to improve the quality of mathematics experiences for young children. This book serves as a call to action to improve the state of early childhood mathematics. It will be especially useful for policy makers and practitioners-those who work directly with children and their families in shaping the policies that affect the education of young children.

Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics (color Hc)

Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics (color Hc) PDF Author: Nadine Bezuk
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781648020001
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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AMTE, in the Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics, puts forward a national vision of initial preparation for all Pre-K-12 teachers who teach mathematics. SPTM pertains not only to middle and high school mathematics teachers who may teach mathematics exclusively but also to elementary school teachers teaching all disciplines, special education teachers, teachers of emergent multilingual students, and all other teaching professionals and administrators who have responsibility for students' mathematical learning. SPTM has broad implications for teacher preparation programs, in which stakeholders include faculty and administrators in both education and mathematics at the university level; teachers, principals, and district leaders in the schools with which preparation programs partner; and the communities in which preparation programs and their school partners are situated. SPTM is intended as a national guide that articulates a vision for mathematics teacher preparation and supports the continuous improvement of teacher preparation programs. Such continuous improvement includes changes to preparation program courses and structures, partnerships involving schools and universities and their leaders, the ongoing accreditation of such programs regionally and nationally, and the shaping of state and national mathematics teacher preparation policy. SPTM is also designed to inform accreditation processes for mathematics teacher preparation programs, to influence policies related to preparation of teachers of mathematics, and to promote national dialogue around preparing teachers of mathematics. The vision articulated in SPTM is aspirational in that it describes a set of high expectations for developing a well-prepared beginning mathematics teacher who can support meaningful student learning. The vision is research-based and establishes a set of goals for the continued development and refinement of a mathematics teacher preparation program and a research agenda for the study of the effects of such a program. SPTM contains detailed depictions of what a well-prepared beginning teacher knows and is able to do related to content, pedagogy, and disposition, and what a strong preparation program entails with respect to learning experiences, assessments, and partnerships. Stakeholders in mathematics teacher preparation will find messages related to their roles. Standards for Preparing Teachers of Mathematics includes standards and indicators for teacher candidates and for the design of teacher preparation programs. SPTM outlines assessment practices related to overall quality, program effectiveness, and candidate performance. SPTM describes specific focal practices by grade band and provides guidance to stakeholders regarding processes for productive change.

Helping Children Learn Mathematics

Helping Children Learn Mathematics PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309131987
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 53

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Book Description
Results from national and international assessments indicate that school children in the United States are not learning mathematics well enough. Many students cannot correctly apply computational algorithms to solve problems. Their understanding and use of decimals and fractions are especially weak. Indeed, helping all children succeed in mathematics is an imperative national goal. However, for our youth to succeed, we need to change how we're teaching this discipline. Helping Children Learn Mathematics provides comprehensive and reliable information that will guide efforts to improve school mathematics from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. The authors explain the five strands of mathematical proficiency and discuss the major changes that need to be made in mathematics instruction, instructional materials, assessments, teacher education, and the broader educational system and answers some of the frequently asked questions when it comes to mathematics instruction. The book concludes by providing recommended actions for parents and caregivers, teachers, administrators, and policy makers, stressing the importance that everyone work together to ensure a mathematically literate society.

School, Family, and Community Partnerships

School, Family, and Community Partnerships PDF Author: Joyce L. Epstein
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1483320014
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 508

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Book Description
Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

Cincinnati Magazine

Cincinnati Magazine PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Cincinnati Magazine taps into the DNA of the city, exploring shopping, dining, living, and culture and giving readers a ringside seat on the issues shaping the region.

The Influence of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics on Mathematics Self-efficacy

The Influence of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics on Mathematics Self-efficacy PDF Author: Kenneth A. Lein
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Common Core State Standards (Education)
Languages : en
Pages : 136

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Book Description
Most states have adopted the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSSM) in response to concerns that United States' students are not competitive in international mathematics achievement. The demands on teachers and expectations for students have increased with its implementation. The purpose of this mixed method study was to explore the effect of the implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics on elementary teachers' perceptions of mathematics self-efficacy. In addition, the study examined teachers' perceptions of principal readiness to lead the implementation and principals' perceptions of teacher readiness to implement the changes. The study also examined principals' self-perceptions of mathematics efficacy and principals' perceptions of central office support for the implementation. Quantitative data were collected from 162 teachers from three urban districts and three suburban districts using a modification of the Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument. The qualitative data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 11 building principals and focused on principals' perceptions of teacher, self, and central office readiness to implement the CCSSM. The findings of this study provided evidence that the implementation of the CCSSM has resulted in a decrease in teacher efficacy in mathematics instruction. Principals perceived that teacher readiness for the implementation of the CCSSM depended upon Common Core-aligned text books. Conclusions state the need to increase efficacy for both teachers and principals

Curriculum Implementation

Curriculum Implementation PDF Author: Michael Fullan
Publisher: Ontario Ministry of Education
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Practices that Cross Disciplines?

Practices that Cross Disciplines? PDF Author: Julia Jackson Cohen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Current policies require that states develop comprehensive teacher evaluation systems that include both value-added measures (VAMs) based on student achievement data and classroom observations. Though many of the nation's largest districts are using these composite metrics, there is neither a large body of empirical research about the relationship among these measures nor carefully delineated theory about the facets of teacher quality each measure is designed to capture. In particular, we know little about how content moderates the relations among teaching practices and student achievement gains. The question of content-specific versus generic practices is particularly important for elementary educators who are generalists and typically assessed as more or less "effective" without regard to content. We know little of whether and how elementary teachers enact similar practices in multiple content domains, and or how the content influences the association of those practices with student achievement. I focus on three practices-- modeling, strategy instruction, and orchestrating discussions-- that research suggests are used in multiple content areas and may be associated with student achievement gains in both math and language arts. My research questions are: 1) How are the instructional practices of modeling, strategy instruction, and orchestrating classroom discussions used in 4th grade English Language Arts (ELA) and math classrooms?, and 2) How do the relations among each of these classroom practices and student achievement vary by content area and assessment type? The sample for this study, drawn from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) project, includes videos of math and ELA lessons from all the participating 4th grade teachers, 120 teachers total, in a single district. Using data from the MET study also allowed me to analyze student achievement gains on multiple assessments: the state's assessments in math and language arts as well as well as two supplemental assessments given across the MET districts, the Balanced Assessment of Mathematics that assesses conceptual understanding of mathematics through open-ended problem solving, and the open-ended version of the Stanford Achievement Test (9th Edition for reading) that asks for written responses to reading passages. I first modified a structured classroom observation protocol designed for scoring language arts teaching, PLATO, so that it could be used to reliably score math instruction. I coded the teaching practices of teachers in both math and ELA, examined descriptive differences in the ways in which teachers used these practices in the two subjects (i.e. when, how, and to what effect), and analyzed the relationships with teacher value-added, computed using multiple student achievement measures. Across the 637 lessons scored, there was little rigorous, extended classroom discourse in either subject. During whole class discussions, teachers tended to evaluate student responses rather than press them to elaborate, clarify, or justify their contributions. There was, however, statistically significantly more modeling and procedural strategy instruction in mathematics instruction than in language arts. In mathematics lessons, teacher modeling was often coupled with procedural strategy instruction. The teacher would provide a formula or algorithm, and students would model solving problems using the formula on the board. Rarely did teachers engage in conceptual exploration of solution methods or ask students to explain why or how a procedure worked. In ELA, students were often asked to complete more open-ended tasks (i.e. writing a persuasive letter) with no strategic instruction or modeling. Interestingly, teachers did not demonstrate the same teaching practices when teaching different content. The within-teacher cross-subject correlations ranged from 0.04 for modeling to 0.29 for orchestrating discourse. Even teachers who displayed strong use of these practices in one subject, did not necessarily employ them when teaching another subject. There were also differential relationships with teacher value-added in the two content areas, and those relationships also seemed to be contingent upon the student outcome measure used to calculate a "teacher effect". When value-added was computed using the state test, comprised entirely of multiple choice questions and focused on procedural tasks, scores on modeling and strategy instruction only differentiate teachers at the very bottom of the value-added distribution for ELA. In math, scores on modeling and strategy instruction differentiate teachers at both the top and bottom of the value-added distribution. However, there are few discernible relationships between scores on teaching practices and student achievement gains in either subject when I run the same analyses using value-added based on the supplemental assessments, which target conceptual or "higher-order" reasoning. I hypothesize these differential patterns are driven by strong district control over classroom instruction and tight coupling between mandated curricular materials and the state assessment. What material is modeled and what strategies are taught, and the extent to which they align with material covered on a given assessment, likely influence the relationship between teaching practices and student achievement gains. Like modeling and strategy instruction, classroom discourse can take varied forms in math and ELA classrooms. I show how one might draw different conclusions about the cross-subject consistency of discourse patterns in math and ELA classrooms based on quantitative and qualitative data. The descriptive statistics and distribution of discourse scores suggest that teachers orchestrate discourse to a similar degree in math and ELA. However, more detailed descriptions of the ways in which teachers orchestrate discussions reveal notable differences both within and across subjects, particularly among lessons that score higher. Our understanding of the extent to which the subject matters in orchestrating discourse depends heavily on the method of analysis and on the quality of the discussion being analyzed. Based on these findings, I argue that teacher education provides a vital opportunity to make cross-content linkages and promote flexible use of instructional practices across the elementary school curriculum. My data suggests that teachers may benefit from support in when and how to model language arts concepts and that more frequent and higher quality modeling may be associated with student achievement gains. The extent to which teachers already model mathematical material provides a potentially useful bridge for incorporating modeling in language arts instruction. Given the limited duration of teacher preparation, we are well served to identify practices that could be targeted for instruction in multiple content areas. This study also suggests the importance of student outcome measures in understanding the complex domain of teacher quality. Different assessments privilege different content and skills, and as a result, they are likely differentially sensitive to specific teaching practices. As states rush to develop assessments that align with the Common Core standards, it will be important to build a theoretical and empirical base about how these new assessments can and should factor into modifications of existing teacher evaluation systems.

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309324882
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 587

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Book Description
Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.