Shifting Beliefs and Instructional Practices: A Mixed-Methods Study of Alternatively Certified New York City Teachers

• In Event: Quantitative and Mixed-Method Studies in Mathematics Education

Abstract

The purpose of this longitudinal, mixed-methods study is threefold: (1) to characterize what urban mathematics teachers believe to be effective mathematics teaching; (2) how, if at all, their instructional beliefs have shifted as they gain experience; and (3) what explains any such shifts. Drawing on survey data from hundreds of urban mathematics teachers from the New York City Teaching Fellows program, our preliminary results are discussed within the context of current instructional reform efforts in the field of mathematics education in the United States. Furthermore, our analysis draws on literature suggesting that both pre-service and in-service factors are powerful explanatory variables when attempting to make sense of the beliefs and instructional practices of mathematics teachers.

Authors

• Sean Gruber, University of Maryland - College Park

• Andrew M. Brantlinger, University of Maryland