What Is Effective Math Teaching? Shifts in Beliefs and Practices of New York City Teachers

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 9
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Beliefs, Effective Teaching, and Student Learning Outcomes: What's the Connection?

Abstract

The purpose of this mixed methods study is twofold: (1) to characterize what secondary mathematics teachers who entered New York City public schools more than a decade ago believe to be effective mathematics teaching, and (2) how, if at all, their instructional beliefs/practices shifted as these teachers gained experience, and what may have influenced any such shifts. Informed by past literature on what factors have been found to be potentially influential on teachers’ beliefs/practices, we conducted a qualitative analysis of teachers’ responses to two open-ended survey items. Additionally, we used exploratory factor analysis in developing a larger picture of how the teachers’ beliefs/practices have shifted since beginning to teach.

Authors

• Sean Gruber, University of Maryland - College Park

• Andrew M. Brantlinger, University of Maryland