54.072 - The Role of Teachers' Social Networks in the Development of Ambitious Mathematics Instruction

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

The four papers in this symposium focus on how teachers’ social networks affect their enactment of ambitious mathematics instruction in the context of new state mathematics curricular standards and teacher evaluation reforms. The Common Core mathematics standards call for teachers to enact ambitious mathematics instruction to help all students acquire procedural fluency and develop conceptual understanding. At the same time, classroom observation instruments and teacher value-added models are used to evaluate teachers’ ability to enact mathematics instruction and the effects of instruction on achievement. Critically, these two sets of institutional forces potentially conflict with one another, but little research documents how teachers utilize their social networks to inform their mathematics instruction in the context of multiple institutional pressures.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Research in Mathematics Education

Chair

• Peter A. Youngs, University of Virginia

Papers

• An Inductive Approach to Understanding Novice Teachers' Social Networks - John L. Lane, Michigan State University; Shannon P. Sweeny, Northern Arizona University

• A Phenomenological Investigation Into Early-Career Teachers' Interactions With Colleagues Around Mathematics Curriculum - Aaron Samuel Zimmerman, Texas Tech University

• How Early-Career Elementary Teachers' Social Networks Affect Ambitious Mathematics Instruction - Kenneth A. Frank, Michigan State University; Kristen Bieda, Michigan State University; Serena Jean Salloum, Ball State University; Peter A. Youngs, University of Virginia

• From Conversation to Collaboration: How the Quality of Teacher Work Group Meetings Influences Social Networks - I-Chien Chen, Michigan State University; Brette Garner, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College; Kenneth A. Frank, Michigan State University; Ilana S. Horn, Vanderbilt University

Discussant

• James P. Spillane, Northwestern University