Participation in mathematics PLC changed teachers' collaboration norms, understanding of mathematics and its teaching, and ability to design and carry out teaching¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · review r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Across the reviewed studies, teachers participating in PLC in mathematics changed their norms of collaboration, enhanced their understanding of mathematics and its teaching, and/or enhanced their ability to design and carry out mathematics teaching, including giving students more talking space. → Harvey 2022

Evidence¶

Harvey 2022¶

Harvey, F., & Teledahl, A. (2022). Characteristics of Professional Learning Communities in Mathematics: A Systematic Review. Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 24(1), 72–95. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1361397

q2 · i? · review · r2

Synthesis of outcome descriptions across the reviewed studies. Teachers were described as having changed classroom norms so they "leave considerably more of the talking space to their students", gaining insight into students' mathematical thinking; several studies found students' reasoning more sophisticated than expected.

"Teachers were also described as having changed their classroom norms regarding who speaks and who is responsible for articulating ideas , so that they now leave considerably more of the talking space to their students."

Studies bearing on this claim¶

Does taking part in a professional learning community change teachers' knowledge and practice? This table gathers the studies behind this claim and the 8 narrower claims that bear on it: 7 distinct studies (4 review, 2 qualitative, 1 design), q2, 0 of 7 with an effect size coded. One row per study, codes as each entry records them; no effect is averaged and no verdict is drawn. Built by scripts/synthesize_claim.py from eval/synthesis/; a row that looks wrong is fixed on the claim it comes from.

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• PLC in mathematics in prior research pursue three distinct objects, with developing teachers' repertoire of teaching actions the most common — related
• Productive collaboration norms in mathematics PLC fall into three categories, with trust norms acting as prerequisites for critical inquiry, and develop over time — related
• Reported PLC outcomes frequently do not correspond with the stated object; complete object–outcome correspondence appeared in only three studies — related
• Current PLC formulations trivialize teacher practice, which the authors argue severely limits the model's usefulness — related
• Teaching science and mathematics through human modeling and collaborative cross-border projects can serve the purpose of developing tolerance and international understanding — related
• A small set of mathematics-only studies gives existence proof that teacher participation in a mathematics PLC can enhance student learning, but evidence is insufficient to link formal assessment results to PLC participation — related
• Participating in scoring performance assessments builds teacher capacity in several ways — related
• STEM teachers participating in learning teams deepen their mathematics and science content knowledge and feel more prepared to teach it — a broader claim this one bears on
• Participation in STEM PLCs positively impacts teachers' understanding of or preparedness to teach content and attitudes toward teaching methods — a broader claim this one bears on
• STEM PLC participation increases teachers' deliberation about students' mathematics or science thinking and shifts instruction toward attention to student reasoning and diverse problem-solving modes — related
• Teachers participating in learning studies develop an increased ability to discern critical features of a learning object and shift from general to content-specific ways of offering the object of learning — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Case-study community schools reported classroom practice shifts—including space arrangement, inclusive curricula, and restorative practices—that they attributed to CSI professional learning — related
• Metacognitive prompts during collaboration improve communication of knowledge and its underlying assumptions — related
• Existing STEM PLC research is methodologically weak by Standards of Evidence review, with no studies rated adequate, but collectively builds a supportive case for valued PLC effects — related
• Consistent participation in a cross-grade, cross-school professional learning community supported PKTP implementation and teacher learning — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Evidence on teacher attitude change as an outcome of team-based professional development in higher education is insufficient; only one study mentioned attitudes — related
• Team-based professional development is associated with shifts toward more student-centered teaching in qualitative studies, but not in one quantitative online-training study — a narrower finding that bears on this claim