Page 165 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

Supporting the Enactment of Standards-based Mathematics Pedagogies

In the CoDe-I project, evaluators used curriculum-based assessments from the Investigations curriculum
to examine student progress. Students completed identical assessments before and after three different
units during the year in order to look at growth. Data analysis indicated that there were empirical links
between teachers’ instructional practices and content knowledge to gains in student achievement (Polly et
al., 2013, 2014). However, the empirical links were inconsistent in various grade levels and across units.
One of the issues with the Investigations curriculum-based assessments was that the assessments
included few items and some were multi-part. The evaluation team developed rubrics for each item
and scored them on a percentage basis in order to provide consistency across grades and units. Future
professional development projects should examine empirical links between teacher learning and student
learning by examining student assessment data. The use of curriculum-based assessments provided
measures that were aligned to the goals of the professional development as well the content that teachers
were focusing on in their instruction.

CONCLUSION

Learner-centered professional development has potential to transform how teachers learn as well as how
teacher learning impacts both teachers’ instruction and student achievement. In this chapter both the
CoDe-I and APLUS projects were designed using LCPD principles to support elementary school teachers’
mathematics instruction. The findings from the evaluation and research of these LCPD efforts included
gains in student learning outcomes, teachers’ adoption of student-centered practices, and shifts towards
more student-centered instruction. Further, in the APLUS project, teachers documented their successful
use of formative data to design developmentally-appropriate instruction for their students. Implications
for the design of future LCPD programs includes continuing mutual partnerships between professional
development facilitators with district and school-based leaders, the careful design of classroom-based
or job-embedded learning activities, and the methods used to evaluate LCPD programs.

REFERENCES

Alexander, P. A., & Murphy, P. K. (1998). The research base for APA’s learner-centered psychological
principles. In N. M. Lambert & B. L. McCombs (Eds.), Issues in school reform: A sampler of psycho-
logical perspectives on learner-centered schools (pp. 33–60). Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association; doi:10.1037/10258-001
Borko, H. (2004). Professional development and teacher learning: Mapping the terrain. Educational
Researcher, 33(8), 3–15. doi:10.3102/0013189X033008003
Borko, H. (2004). Professional development and teacher learning: Mapping the terrain. Educational
Researcher, 33(8), 3–15. doi:10.3102/0013189X033008003

Common Core state Standards Initiative (2010). Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Re-
trieved from: http://corestandards.org

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