Integrate professional development aimed at changing teachers' expectations into mathematics achievement interventions¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 5 claims (4 for, 1 mixed) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 5 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The authors recommend that efforts to improve instructional practices include professional development targeting teachers' expectations of students, implemented alongside mathematics achievement interventions. They write that "efforts to improve teachers’ instructional practices could also include professional development opportunities aimed at changing teacher’s expectations of their students and can even be implemented at the same time as interventions focused on improving mathematics achievement." In the TRIAD intervention, PD administrators worked with treatment teachers to change their beliefs about the ability of low-income and minority children to learn advanced mathematics.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Professional development sessions that explicitly address teachers' beliefs about students' ability to learn advanced mathematics, alongside training on curriculum, software, and instructional practices

Constraints¶

• The article notes it is important to consider multiple dimensions of the classroom-learning environment, since looking only at teacher expectancy effects could mask other important dimensions

Target Learners¶

• preschool teachers in low-resource schools
• preschool students from low-income families

Target Learning Goals¶

• early mathematics achievement
• equitable instruction for marginalized students

Claims¶

• Baseline correlations: teacher confidence and enthusiasm and expectations dimensions correlated with posttest achievement, but support for mathematical discourse did not [+W]
• Observed teacher expectations and developmental appropriateness were more strongly associated with mathematics achievement for African American than non-African American preschoolers [~W]
• Mediation of the intervention's effect via teacher expectations approached significance only for African American students [+W]
• The intervention raised observed teacher confidence and enthusiasm, with partial mediation via this dimension for African American students only, though the group difference was not significant [+W]
• The TRIAD intervention raised teachers' observed expectations and responsiveness to developmental needs (b = 0.10, p = .05) [+W]

Related Strategies¶

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Schenke, K., Nguyen, T., Watts, T. W., Sarama, J. H., & Clements, D. H. (2017). Differential effects of the classroom on African American and non-African American’s mathematics achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 109(6), 794–811. https://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000165