Variation in Teacher Education Opportunities to Learn and Mathematics Knowledge for Teaching

• In Event: Understanding Variation in Teacher Education Programs: Features That Impact Teacher Learning

Abstract

The study presented is a collaborative effort of worldwide institutions and the National Science Foundation to study the mathematics preparation of future primary and secondary teachers. The study explored if what future teachers learn in pre-service teacher education leads to more effective knowledge of mathematics and mathematics for teaching. This paper will describe the opportunities to learn to teach mathematics for primary and secondary teaching in the different programs participating in the study and how this variation relates with the teaching knowledge shown by future teachers in the assessments developed specifically for this study.

This study builds on the work done on teaching knowledge (Shulman, 1987), mathematics knowledge for teaching (Ball & Bass, 2000), program evaluation (Weiss, 1972, 1997), teacher education effects (author, 1993, 1996, 1999b), educational reform and teacher education (author, 1999a, 2007, 2008), and on previous comparative work done by IEA, specifically TIMSS (Mullis et al., 2007).

This study uses comparative and survey research methods to produce correlational data. Original data was collected through policy documents; assessments of mathematics teaching knowledge; and questionnaires. The study implemented a two-stage sampling design: (a) selected samples representative of the national population of institutions offering pre-service education to the target populations; (b) all programs in those institutions were included in the survey; (c) within institutions (and programs), samples of educators and of future teachers were surveyed. Samples had to reach the IEA rigorous sampling standards (see Fay, 1989; Lohr, 1999; McCarthy, 1966; author, forthcoming).
The study conducted (a) surveys of the teacher education institutions using an institutional program questionnaire, (b) surveys of educators and mentors of future teachers in the institutions using a teacher educator questionnaire, and (c) surveys and assessments of future teachers in the sampled institutions. Questions on future teacher knowledge of mathematics and mathematics pedagogy were investigated via tests developed for that purpose. The following countries participated in the study: Botswana, Canada, Chile, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), Georgia, Germany, Malaysia, Norway, Oman, the Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, and the United States.

Key features in the design of the teacher education curricula correlate with the level of knowledge future teachers were able to show in our assessments. Programs whose future teachers are more successful in our assessments have more coherent opportunities to learn, and rigorous selection strategies and standards.

This study is the first cross-national study of teacher preparation to collect data on the curriculum, organization, processes and outcomes of teacher education and the first international assessment of learning outcomes based on national samples, not just in teacher education, but in higher education. The study provides the most rigorous scientific evidence on the effectiveness of mathematics teacher preparation to date and offers policy makers well-grounded evidence of how teacher education program variation correlates with future teaching knowledge in mathematics teacher education.

Author

• Maria Teresa Tatto, Michigan State University