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Office of Shared Accountability Reports

A Study of Classroom Experiences of Teachers of Advanced Mathematics to Grade 5 Students

Description:

The study focused on identifying aspects of teachers' background, professional development, and characteristics that contribute to Grade 5 students' successful performance in Math 6 and on gaining insights into challenges facing teachers whose Grade 5 students are less successful in Math 6. The main data source was individual interviews with 25 teachers of Math 6 to Grade 5 students. For analysis, teachers were divided into two groups (more vs. less successful) based on their students' performance on math unit assessments.

Recommendations:

  • Support all elementary school teachers of Math 6 by creating a professional learning community among teachers of Math 6 in elementary and middle schools.
  • Support less successful teachers by improving their ability to do the following:
    • Use assessments as a resource for planning a unit.
    • Incorporate student-to-student discourse and stages of learning (i.e., concrete, representational, abstract) in their lessons.
    • Work with other teachers within the building to make planning time more useful.
  • Consider the extent of the teacher's college coursework in mathematics as one aspect of selecting staff members to teach Math 6 to Grade 5 students.

    File Name: Report Adv Math G5 7 16 10.pdf (171KB PDF)