Differential Effects of Instruction on Achievement: Mathematical Quality of Instruction

• In Event: Excellence in Education Research: Early Career Scholars and Their Work

Abstract

Much of the research in the sociology of education has focused on achievement gaps including the black-white achievement gap and more recently the Hispanic-white and income achievement gap. However, little research in the sociology of education focuses on the role of the organization of the classroom learning environment or instruction to explain achievement gaps. Minority and low socioeconomic status students do not have access to the same classroom learning environment or instruction as their white and high socioeconomic status peers (Catsambis 1994; Lubienski 2002; Diamond 2007, Camburn & Han 2011). The differential access may help explain the achievement gaps given that instruction is related to student achievement (Gamoran, Porter, Smithson, & White 1997; Cohen & Hill 2000; von Secker 2002; Wenglinsky 2004). This study examines the differential effects of instruction on student achievement using the Measures of Effective Teaching Longitudinal Database.

Research Questions
In order to have a better understanding of the relationship among instructional characteristics, student race and income group this study asks the following questions.
1. To what extent do teacher instructional characteristics vary by student race and income group categories?
2. To what extent is effectiveness on various dimensions of teacher instructional characteristics related to student achievement?
3. To what extent does the relationship between teacher instructional characteristics and achievement vary by student race and income categories?

Data & Methods
Using the 2010 Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Longitudinal Database, this study focuses on 4th and 5th grade teachers who teach math. The analytic sample includes 445 teachers and 11,194 students. To measure instruction the teacher’s score on the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) is used. The MQI is a math specific scale that examines the relationships between teacher-content, teacher-student, and student-content. Student achievement is measured with the Balanced Assessment of Mathematics (BAM)—an open ended assessment, aimed at measuring mathematical thinking that requires higher cognitive demands (White & Rowan 2012).

Author

• Elizabeth Covay Minor, National Louis University