Classroom Quality and Adolescent Student Engagement and Performance in Mathematics: A Multi-Method and Multi-Informant A
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EMPIRICAL RESEARCH
Classroom Quality and Adolescent Student Engagement and Performance in Mathematics: A Multi-Method and Multi-Informant Approach Ming-Te Wang1 Tara Hofkens2 Feifei Ye3 ●
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Received: 14 November 2019 / Accepted: 11 January 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Mathematics learning, engagement, and performance are facilitated by quality interactions within the classroom environment. Researchers studying high-quality interactions in mathematics classrooms must consider adopting multiple methods of data collection so as to capture classroom quality from all perspectives. As such, this longitudinal study examined student, teacher, and observer perspectives of interaction quality in mathematics classrooms and their predictive associations with mathematics outcomes. Data were collected during the fall and spring semesters of the 2015–2016 school year from 1501 students in 150 mathematics classes (n = 499 fifth graders, 523 seventh graders, 479 ninth graders; 51% female; 51% European American, 30% African American, and 19% other ethnic background; 52% qualifying for free/ reduced price lunch). Observer and aggregated student reports of interaction quality at the classroom level were moderately correlated with one another, and these reports predicted student mathematics engagement and performance. Individual student reports of interaction quality also predicted math engagement and performance; yet, teacher reports of interaction quality did not align with student or observer perspectives. Furthermore, teacher reports did not predict student mathematics outcomes. Implications for research, practice, and policy are discussed. Keywords Classroom quality Teacher–student interactions Student math engagement Multi-method and multiinformant Math learning ●
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Introduction The classroom environment is a developmental context where youth hone social skills and establish academic competencies essential for their success in school and beyond (Evan et al. 2006; Wang and Degol 2016; Wang et al. 2019). Since the 1970s, school reform initiatives have called on educators and researchers to support adolescents’ school success by assessing, understanding, and improving
These authors contributed equally: Tara Hofkens, Feifei Ye * Ming-Te Wang [email protected] 1
University of Pittsburgh, 230 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
2
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
3
RAND Corporation, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
the quality of classroom environments (Inglis and Foster 2018). Given well-documented declines in students’ mathematics engagement and performance across the secondary school years (Martin et al. 2015; Wigfield et al. 2006), it is imperative to understand how the quality of mathematics classrooms relates to adolescents’ engagement and achievement in mathematics. Grounded in developmental theories such as the Teaching through Interactions framework (Pianta and Hamre 2009) and self-determination theory of motiva
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