Developmental Patterns in Associations Between Instructional Practice and Children’s Math Trajectories in Elementary School

• In Event: Teachers’ Instructional Practices and Students’ Mathematics Learning

Abstract

While reform- and traditional-math instruction are consistently linked to children’s math achievement, it remains challenging to piece together a coherent developmental picture of how children respond to these instructional inputs over time. There is also uneven consideration of how teachers may naturally combine these approaches, and for how this combination shifts across elementary school. Using data from a large longitudinal sample, the ECLS-K, this study found positive associations between traditional instruction and achievement, and significant two- and three-way interactions between instructional approach and time. Here, high amounts of traditional instruction were associated with greater achievement in kindergarten, while 5th graders who received a combination of instructional techniques performed better than those who had teachers that emphasized one approach over another.

Authors

• Melissa Heatly Castle, University of Pittsburgh

• Heather J. Bachman, University of Pittsburgh

• Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal, University of Pittsburgh