Investigating Impact of Different Types of Professional Development on What Aspects Mathematics Teachers Take Up And Use in Their Classroom

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Taking a Deep Dive (TaDD): Investigating PD impact on what teachers take up and use in their classroom, is a 3-year DRK-12 Impact study within the teaching strand. This study will collect qualitative data from four large NSF funded mathematics PD projects to examine teachers' uptake of content, pedagogy and materials in order to understand and unpack what factors are associated with what teachers take up and use two to three years beyond their original PD experience. This project studies four NSF funded projects: 1) An Efficacy Study of the Learning and Teaching Geometry PD Materials: Examining Impact and Context-Based Adaptations (NSF# 1503399; July 2015-June 2019; Jennifer Jacobs, Karen Koellner & Nanette Seago), 2) Visual Access to Mathematics: Professional Development for Teachers of English Learners (NSF#1503399; August 1, 2015-July 31, 2018; Mark Driscoll, Johanna Nikula, & Pamela Buffington), 3) Refining a Model with Tools to Develop Math PD Leaders: An Implementation Study (NSF# 14172614; January 1, 2015-December 31, 2018; Hilda Borko & Janet Carlson), and 4), TRUmath and Lesson Study: Supporting Fundamental and Sustainable Improvement in High School Mathematics Teaching (NSF #1503342; July 1, 2015-June 30, 2019; Mary Donovan, Phil Tucher, & Catherine Lewis). The research questions that guide the TaDD project's impact study are: RQ1: What is the nature of what teachers take up and use after participating in professional development workshops? RQ2: What factors influence what teachers take up and use and in what ways? The TaDD impact study is unique and does not follow the typical impact methodology in that it utilizes a qualitative theoretically-based case design. Additionally, as opposed to quantitative studies that typically examine impact one year after the intervention, this study examines impact of different PD models two to three years after the intervention. This approach allows for a deep dive into the variations among adaptive and specified models of PD and across teachers. As noted, the field has conducted numerous scale-up studies focused on the impact of PD on teacher and student learning with positive but not necessarily dramatic results – the TaDD project seeks to uncover what specifically teachers take up from professional learning opportunities and the factors associated with impact. TaDD will utilize a multi-case method which centers on a common foccus of what content, pedagogy and materials teachers take up from PD experiences.

Co-PI(s): Nanette Seago, WestEd; Nicora Placa, Hunter College

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