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Supporting Improvements in the Quality of Mathematics Teaching on a Large Scale

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Making Change Happen

Zusammenfassung

Research on the teaching and learning of mathematics has made significant progress in recent years. However, this work has had only limited impact on classroom instruction in many countries. We report on an eight-year project in which we partnered with several large urban school districts in the U.S. that were attempting to support mathematics teachers’ development of ambitious, inquiryoriented instructional practices. We first give an overview of the project and describe these researcher-practitioner partnerships, which were conducted as design research studies at the system level. We then present findings as they relate to key elements of a coherent system for instructional improvement. These elements include: explicit student learning goals and an associate vision of highquality mathematics instruction; curriculum materials and associated resources; pull-out teacher professional development; school-based teacher collaborative meetings; teachers’ informal professional networks; teacher leaders’ practices in providing job-embedded support for other teachers’ learning; and supplemental supports for currently struggling students. We conclude by arguing that additional studies are needed that frame large-scale instructional improvement as an explicit focus of investigation if mathematics education research is to realize its potential by contributing to improvements in the quality of mathematics instruction for large numbers of students.

The work reported in this chapter was supported by the National Science Foundation under grants No. ESI-0554535 and No. DRL-0830029. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Appleton Place 230, 37203, Nashville, TN, USA

    Prof. Paul Cobb & Dr. Erin Henrick

  2. College of Education, University of Washington, Skagit Lane.Miller Hall 2012, 98195-3600, Seattle, WA, USA

    Dr. Kara Jackson

  3. Graduate School of Education, University of California, Riverside, Sproul Hall 1207, 92521, Riverside, CA, USA

    Prof. Thomas Smith

Authors
  1. Prof. Paul Cobb
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  2. Dr. Kara Jackson
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  3. Prof. Thomas Smith
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  4. Dr. Erin Henrick
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Paul Cobb .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. FB Sprach- u. Lit.wiss., Universität Bremen FB Sprach- u. Lit.wiss., Bremen, Germany

    Sabine Doff

  2. Zentrum für Lehrerbildung, Universität Bremen Zentrum für Lehrerbildung, Bremen, Germany

    Regine Komoss

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Cobb, P., Jackson, K., Smith, T., Henrick, E. (2017). Supporting Improvements in the Quality of Mathematics Teaching on a Large Scale. In: Doff, S., Komoss, R. (eds) Making Change Happen. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-14979-6_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-14979-6_17

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-658-14979-6

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