LESSON QUALITY IN MATHEMATICS CLASSROOMS

AND THE INTRODUCTION OF A STATE TESTING PROGRAM

Nancy O’Rode

University of California at Santa Barbara

onancy@education.ucsb.edu

In this report, analyses are presented of the mathematical content, investigatory practices, and lesson quality observed in mathematics classrooms whose teachers were involved in over 100 hours of professional development over a four-year period. In 1995, the National Science Foundation initiated the Local Systemic Change through Teacher Enhancement program with a goal of providing professional development to teachers for the implementation of high-quality mathematics curriculum. Cohen and Hill (1998) reported that educational policy can play a favorable role in influencing teachers’ practice. However, during the data collection period, a state-wide standardized testing program was introduced along with other educational policy changes that were a source of concern for the teachers. The study was undertaken to ascertain what, if any, impact the testing program had on the quality of the mathematics lessons that were observed.

In each year of the four-year study, ten classrooms were randomly selected for observation from a large school district in California that has adopted MathLand (Creative Publications, 1995), designated a promising program by the U.S. Department of Education expert panel. Pre- and post-observation interviews were conducted. Lessons were assessed according to the current standards for mathematics education (NCTM, 1989).

The results indicate that, in general, the lesson quality was higher when the curriculum was followed more closely. Higher quality lessons had less time devoted to computational practice than lessons rated lower on the evaluation scale. Generally, there was an increase in rigorous mathematical content and investigatory practices over the first three years of the project, however, a downward shift in the quality and duration of learning opportunities in the classrooms occurred in the fourth year after the institution of the state testing program and the reporting of the state-wide school rankings based upon standardized test results.

References

Cohen, D. & Hill, H. (1998). State policy and classroom performance: Mathematics reform in California (RB-23-January 1998). Philadelphia, PA: CPRE Publications, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education.

Creative Publications. (1995). MathLand: Journeys through mathematics. Mountain View, CA: Author.

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (1989). Curriculum and evaluation standards for school mathematics. Reston, VA: Author.