Exploring Methods for Improving Teachers’ Mathematical Quality of Instruction
Exploring Methods for Improving Teachers’ Mathematical Quality of Instruction
What is the optimal level of facilitation in teachers’ discussions and the effect of contributing their own video?
Funded by the National Science Foundation, this study investigated the conditions of effective video-based math professional development and the use of an observational instrument as a common language for teachers to use to talk about their practice.
Location: Massachusetts & Oregon
Groups of teachers in Grades 3–8 received summer training on the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) rubric and participated in ten afterschool discussion sessions based on the MQI and video of math instruction. Teacher groups were randomly assigned to a type of facilitation (high-facilitation or teacher-led) and type of video use (stock video or video of their own instruction). Two cohorts of teachers in six districts received the intervention.
Results of this work were published in 2018.
Resources
The Design of Video-Based Professional Development: An Exploratory Experiment Intended to Identify Effective Features
Explore the design and effectiveness of video-based professional development for mathematics teachers, comparing the impact of different video sources (teachers' own vs. stock) and facilitation types (teacher-led vs. facilitator-led) on teacher learning