Abstract
AbstractBackgroundEducators, researchers and policy-makers worldwide continue to struggle to understand the changes needed for improving educational outcomes and attainment for students, particularly in content areas such as mathematics and science that are essential for developing a highly skilled workforce. Given the continuing emphasis on linking teacher practices with student outcomes, this study aims to explore teachers’ use of particular instructional strategies and whether use is associated with student achievement.MethodsUsing data from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2007, this study examines eighth grade teachers’ use of instructional practices that support students’ conceptual understanding, and examines the relationship between those practices and mathematics test scores. Data from four countries was examined: U.S., Korea, Japan, and Singapore. Descriptive statistics and a series of multilevel regression models were used.ResultsThe results show that teachers in the U.S. were most similar to Korean teachers in the frequency and types of teaching practices reported, and that they reported using some practices at least as frequently, or more frequently than teachers in the other countries. A sub-set of teachers’ instructional practices are related to mathematics achievement in the U.S. and Singapore, but not in Korea or Japan.ConclusionsTeacher practices explained very little of the variability in test scores, even in cases where particular instructional practices were positively and significantly related to achievement. This research highlights the challenges for examining the teacher-level correlates of student test scores using data from cross-sectional, international studies that do not include measures of students’ prior achievement, classroom observations, or estimates of students’ out-of-school instruction.
Highlights
Educators, researchers and policy-makers worldwide continue to struggle to understand the changes needed for improving educational outcomes and attainment for students, in content areas such as mathematics and science that are essential for developing a highly skilled workforce
In the U.S for example, prompted by the most recent federal investments in education, the Race to the Top program authorized under sections 14005 and 14006 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which places specific emphasis on improving teacher quality, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners are increasingly interested in the interplay between teacher quality and student achievement
This step ensured that only students whose test scores could be linked with one teacher were included in the analyses, a necessary condition for examining the association between teachers’ instructional practices and student achievement
Summary
Researchers and policy-makers worldwide continue to struggle to understand the changes needed for improving educational outcomes and attainment for students, in content areas such as mathematics and science that are essential for developing a highly skilled workforce. Given the continuing emphasis on linking teacher practices with student outcomes, this study aims to explore teachers’ use of particular instructional strategies and whether use is associated with student achievement. In the U.S for example, prompted by the most recent federal investments in education, the Race to the Top program authorized under sections 14005 and 14006 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), which places specific emphasis on improving teacher quality, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners are increasingly interested in the interplay between teacher quality and student achievement. This research highlights the challenges for using data from international cross-sectional comparative studies to link student outcomes with teachers’ instructional practices
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