Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Billions of dollars are invested each year in professional development (PD) programs designed to improve teaching and learning (Birman et al., 2009; U.S. Department of Education, 2014). However, there is surprisingly little rigorous evidence on the effectiveness of PD programs overall, and for mathematics-focused PD in particular. Despite the limited evidence base, there is growing consensus among mathematicians and math educators that deepening teachers’ content knowledge is an essential component of effective math PD (Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008; Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, 2012; Martin & Umland, 2008; Wu, 2011). This is especially salient for elementary teachers, who are less likely to formally study math in college than secondary teachers (Conference Board of the Mathematical Sciences, 2012; Greenberg & Walsh, 2008).

This study rigorously examined the impact of content-intensive PD on fourth-grade teachers’ math content knowledge, their instructional practice, and their students’ achievement. The randomized controlled trial took place over the 2014-15 school year in 6 districts across 5 states. Teachers within schools were randomly assigned to either a treatment or control group. Treatment teachers received a PD program that aimed to deepen their math content knowledge and provide explicit supports to enact this knowledge in the classroom. The PD had three components: (1) an 80-hour Intel Math summer workshop, a widely-used program designed to promote deep conceptual understanding of grades K–8 mathematics topics through solving and discussing math problems; (2) five two-hour Mathematics Learning Community collaborative meetings in which teachers analyzed student work on topics covered in Intel Math; and (3) three, one-hour Video Feedback Cycles,individualized feedback provided to teachers on the quality and clarity of their mathematical explanations, based on analyzed video-recordings of their classroom teaching. The control group participated in the PD typically provided in their local context.

Across the six study districts, the sample included 73 schools, 165 volunteer grade 4 teachers and 1,760 students. The schools were diverse, situated in urban, suburban, and rural settings, and served students from a range of racial and socioeconomic backgrounds.

We measured teacher knowledge with an adaptive, customized assessment provided by the Northwest Educational Association (NWEA). We captured aspects of teachers’ instructional practice by analyzing three video-recorded lessons per teacher with the Mathematics Quality of Instruction (MQI) instrument. Student achievement was measured with a customized NWEA assessment aligned to the mathematics domains emphasized by the PD and with the mathematics assessments administered in each state. The main analyses examine the impact of the study PD on these key outcomes. Implementation analyses examine fidelity of implementation and describe the nature and aspects of quality of the PD components, as implemented. The study results (forthcoming pursuant to release by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences) have important implications for understanding the role of content-focused PD in shaping teachers’ knowledge and practice, and the impact of such PD on their students’ achievement.