When Classroom Instruction Predicts Students' Learning of Early Algebra: A Cross-Cultural Opportunity-Propensity Analysis

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: Issues in Algebra Learning and Instruction

Abstract

This study examines whether instruction aligned with IES recommendations (i.e., use of worked examples, representations, deep questions) predicts student learning of early algebra in elementary classrooms. Instructional quality was embedded in an opportunity-propensity analysis of cross-cultural data between United States and China to show that teaching plays a stronger role in student learning (N = 589) than previously reported. Controlling the covariates of antecedent (e.g., SES) and propensity factors (e.g., prior achievement) as well as the teacher characteristics (e.g., self-efficacy), teaching quality -- especially teachers’ use of representations and deep questions – explains additional variance beyond highly predictive antecedent and propensity factors. The pattern held in both the US and China though there were several interesting differences in responses.

Authors

• Meixia Ding, Temple University

• James P. Byrnes, Temple University

• Eli Barnett, Temple University

• Ryan Hassler, Pennsylvania State University - Berks