Gaylor, E., Wei, X., Spiker, D., Dominguez, X., McCray, J., Chen, J.-Q., Reid, E., Zhang, Y., Cerezci, B., & Budak, S. (2021). Innovations in Early Mathematics: Final report. SRI International.
Abstract
SRI’s evaluation of a 2-year professional development (PD) intervention for PreK to 3 rd grade teachers found that high-quality PD focusing on teachers’ instructional practices and pedagogical content knowledge, as well as their dispositions toward math, can lead to significant changes in teacher behavior across preK and early elementary grades.
In partnership with the Erikson Institute Early Math Collaborative, SRI evaluated the impact of teachers’ participation in a 2-year professional development (PD) intervention to improve teachers’ knowledge, attitudes, and instructional practice in math across prekindergarten (preK) to third grade classrooms in the city of Chicago. Compared to teachers receiving business as usual PD, participation in Erikson’s Whole-Teacher PD led to robust changes in teacher practices after 1 year and were sustained at the 4-year follow-up observations. Intervention teachers also reported higher confidence in their ability to use high-quality math instructional practices after completing the 2-year PD compared to business-as-usual teachers. Limited impacts on student learning were observed. The findings suggest high-quality PD focusing on teachers’ instructional practices and pedagogical content knowledge, as well as their dispositions toward math, can lead to significant changes in teacher behavior across preK and early elementary grades.