Two Replication Studies of the Relationships between Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching, Mathematical Quality of Instruction, and Student Achievement

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, we share two conceptual replications of Hill et al.’s (2012c) study linking Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT), Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI), and student assessment scores. In study 1, we share data from 4th and 5th grade teachers in an urban school district. In study 2, we share data from middle school teachers in a school district with a relatively high proportion of emergent bilingual students. By varying contexts, we found that Hill et al.’s (2012c) suggested use of the MKT cutoff points was not warranted in our differing settings. Further, we found some significant relationships between MKT, MQI, and student assessments; however, we were not able to reproduce these consistently with our data. We suggest that the relationship between teaching practice and MKT may be quite sensitive to contextual factors including grade level, demographics, school effects, and assessments. We recommend that policymakers and researchers take caution when using such instruments to evaluate program initiatives and identify teachers for remediation or leadership positions. The impact sheet to this article can be accessed at 10.6084/m9.figshare.16610080.