Two Conflicting Forces: How Teachers' Perceived Pressure Associated With Teacher Evaluation Shapes Mathematics Instruction

• In Event: How Standards, Curricula, and School Policies Influence Instruction and Student Outcomes

Abstract

This study investigates how teacher evaluation pressure perceived by early career teachers (ECTs) seems to affect their mathematics instruction. Drawing on classroom observation and survey data, we examine whether teacher evaluation policies conflict with ECTs’ efforts to enact ambitious mathematics instruction. ECTs who felt a higher level of pressure tended to move further away from enacting ambitious mathematics instruction in terms of three dimensions in TRU Math scores, cognitive demand; agency, authority, and identity; and formative assessment. In terms of teacher individual-level (i.e., mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT)) and school-level resources (i.e., school norms regarding mathematics instruction), only teachers’ MKT seems to have moderating effects on the association between evaluation pressure and enactment of ambitious mathematics instruction.

Authors

• Jihyun Kim, Lehigh University

• Peter A. Youngs, University of Virginia

• Kenneth A. Frank, Michigan State University