Changes in Knowledge and Quality of Mathematics Instruction: A Longitudinal Study of Novice Elementary School Teachers

• In Event: Examining the Relationship Between Teacher Knowledge and Mathematics Classroom Practices in Novice Elementary-School Teachers

Abstract

Prior research has examined the relationship between teacher knowledge and practice. Researchers have documented a strong relationship between teachers’ knowledge and their quality of instruction (Hill et al., 2008; Kersting et al., 2012). However, little is known about this relationship in beginning teachers. What is known is that novice elementary school teachers are not as effective as experienced teachers in terms of producing student learning gains (Gordon, Kane, & Staiger, 2006). A plausible explanation is that even teachers who enter the teaching profession with sufficient level of knowledge encounter other challenges that influence the activation of this knowledge while teaching. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between knowledge and quality of instruction in a sample of beginning elementary school teachers during their first three years of teaching and how their knowledge and quality of instruction change over time.
Data are drawn from a larger five-year project that studied teacher preparation longitudinally. In this paper, I first focus on the relationship between knowledge and quality of instruction for nine K-4th grade teachers during their first three years of teaching. The participants completed the CVA, which was used to measure teachers’ knowledge of mathematics teaching (Kersting et al., 2010). Additionally, three mathematics lessons from each year of teaching were videotaped and scored using the Mathematical Quality of Instruction instrument (Hill et al., 2008). At the end of each year, teachers completed interviews that asked them to reflect on their year, whether they had sufficient mathematical knowledge to teach, how prepared they felt about teaching mathematics at their grade level, and what resources or experiences they relied on. Teachers’ lesson reflections provided supplementary information on how teachers’ knowledge was integrated in their practices.
A set of correlation analyses of the two measures was completed. The first was done to see the relationship between knowledge prior to the year teachers taught and the quality of instruction during that year. The second was done to see the relationship between knowledge and specific codes related to teacher working with student. Two case study teachers were then selected based on the pattern of their changes in instructional quality and knowledge.
Study findings reveal that the relationship between knowledge and quality of instruction changes from year to year, with a significant positive correlation by the third year of teaching. Both teachers’ knowledge and quality of instruction grew over time but in different ways. It is the complex interaction of context, knowledge, and practice that shape teachers’ perception of learning and teaching mathematics. With time and constant engagement in learning opportunities that focus on student learning, teachers can learn to make sense of their practice in their own contexts as their knowledge continues to grow.

Author

• Jiwon Lee, University of California - Irvine