Jordanian teachers’ experiences with technology to support differentiated instruction

• In Event: Context matters: Experiences from education technology research in three countries

Proposal

Over the past decade, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan has made great strides in improving access to education, yet education quality in the country’s public primary schools continues to be a concern (United States Agency for International Development [USAID], 2015). A 2012 early grade reading assessment in Modern Standard Arabic found 21% of second graders and 28% of third graders unable to identify any letter sounds correctly (RTI International [RTI], 2012). In a concurrent mathematics assessment, students also performed significantly below grade-level standards.

Notable factors contributing to this problem include limited education system capacity to implement meaningful reforms and to use data to plan and hold the system accountable (USAID, 2015). Factors also include gaps in students’ access to books at home; the design of the country’s early grade curriculum; and teachers’ instructional practices in the classroom (RTI, 2012). Concerning the latter, results from 150 classroom observations conducted in different schools across the country indicated a heavy reliance on predetermined curricular schedules, memorization techniques, whole class responses, as well as limited use of continuous assessment data to adapt instruction to meet students’ needs (RTI, 2012).

The USAID-funded Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Initiative (RAMP), was designed in response to the country’s concern on education quality, with an objective to improve early grade reading and mathematics in public schools nationwide. In 2018, under the umbrella of RAMP, RTI also implemented a pilot study designed to explore if and how RAMP might use technology to support teachers in the implementation of systematic continuous assessment and differentiated instruction. Tangerine:Teach is open source continuous assessment software, designed using lessons learned from decades of research on technology-facilitated curriculum-based measurement, that facilitates teacher-led formative assessment in the classroom (Strigel, 2014). Tangerine:Teach can feature pre-made assessments, including measures of a class’ progress towards end of grade benchmarks and mastery checks aligned with learning objectives in the curriculum. The software helps teachers in their instructional decisions about grouping, pacing, and materials use based on students’ needs.

The theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) served as a conceptual framework for the study to highlight the pathway by which teachers’ assessment behaviors may be changed. On this basis, the study examined participating teachers’ attitudes, their self-efficacy, and the subjective norms prevalent in their schools as well as teachers’ intentions to adopt continuous assessment and differentiated instruction. The intervention entailed teacher professional learning activities combined with the provision of a tablet device and Tangerine:Teach to each teacher. Participating teachers stemmed from two schools in Amman, one serving predominantly children with a refugee background who were taught by early career teachers. The other school served predominantly Jordanian students and participating teachers had an average of 13 years of work experience. This presentation will share findings from this study in Jordan with a particular lens towards differences between early career and later career teachers in the adoption and implementation of the targeted practices.

Author

• Carmen Strigel, RTI International