Observable mathematical teaching expertise among upper elementary teachers: connections to student experiences and profe
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Observable mathematical teaching expertise among upper elementary teachers: connections to student experiences and professional learning Amy Auletto1 · Kristy Cooper Stein1
© Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract Researchers examining elementary teachers’ mathematical teaching expertise—that is, teachers’ knowledge both of mathematics and of how to effectively teach mathematics— have linked such expertise to student outcomes. But, given the increasing use of classroom observations for teacher evaluation in the USA, this study considers whether and how upper elementary teachers’ mathematical teaching expertise is observable in everyday classroom observations. Using classroom observation data collected with the widely used CLASS observation instrument, this study examines relationships among observation data, student outcome data, and data on opportunities for professional learning from 298 upper elementary teachers in four urban school districts in the USA. Using principal components analysis, this study isolates an observable dimension of mathematical teaching expertise. Regression analyses then identify statistically significant relationships among observed mathematical teaching expertise and multiple student outcomes, including mathematics learning and self-efficacy, as well as teacher professional learning through collaboration with mathematics coaches. Our findings inform strategies for observing mathematical teaching expertise, strengthening the practices of upper elementary teachers, and improving student experiences in the upper elementary grades. Keywords Mathematical teaching expertise · Upper elementary mathematics · Professional learning · Classroom observation
Introduction Strong understanding of key mathematical concepts and theories is foundational to a student’s successful education and career in the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. As early as preschool, kindergarten, and elementary school, students’ mathematics skills and knowledge are strongly predictive of later academic achievements and accomplishments in mathematics and science (Claessens and Engel
* Amy Auletto [email protected] 1
Michigan State University, 620 Farm Lane, Room 219, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
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2013; Duncan et al. 2007; Stipek et al. 2012). Relatedly, research shows that young students’ feelings about learning mathematics, including their sense of mathematics self-efficacy and their perceptions of their relationships with mathematics teachers, are strongly linked to their engagement with mathematics, academic performance in mathematics, later orientations toward mathematics, and likelihood of ultimately pursuing a STEM major in college (Alhaddab and Alnatheer 2015; Dang and Nylund-Gibson 2017; Kenney-Benson et al. 2006; Lewis et al. 2012; Martin and Rimm-Kaufman 2015). In the USA, the upper elementary years—specifically, the fourth and fifth grades—are particularly important in the development of students’ mathematics knowledge and orie
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