This systematic review of algebra instructional improvement strategies identified 82 relevant studies with 109 independent effect sizes representing a sample of 22,424 students. Five categories of improvement strategies emerged: technology curricula, nontechnology curricula, instructional strategies, manipulatives, and technology tools. All five of these strategies yielded positive, statistically significant results. Furthermore, the learning focus of these strategies moderated their effects on student achievement. Interventions focusing on the development of conceptual understanding produced an average effect size almost double that of interventions focusing on procedural understanding.
We examined 480 dissertations on the use of technology in mathematics education and developed a Quality Framework (QF) that provided structure to consistently define and measure quality. Dissertation studies earned an average of 64.4% of the possible quality points across all methodology types, compared to studies in journals that averaged 47.2%. Doctoral students as well as their mentors can play a pivotal role in increasing the quality of research in this area by attending to the QF categories as they plan, design, implement, and complete their dissertation studies. These results imply that mathematics education technology researchers should demand greater clarity in published papers through the preparation of their own manuscripts and how they review the works of others.
This article describes the development and validation of two forms of the Geometry Assessments for Secondary Teachers (GAST), which were designed to assess teachers' knowledge for teaching geometry. Both forms were developed by teams of mathematicians, mathematics educators, psychometricians, and secondary classroom geometry teachers. Predictive validity for the GAST assessment was explored by observing and testing 157 teachers as well as administering pre– and post–tests to 3,698 students. The reliability coefficient for both GAST assessment forms was acceptable (r = .79). GAST assessment scores explained a statistically significant but small amount of the variance of student scores, demonstrating an effect that was greater than the number of years of teaching experience but smaller than the effect of having an advanced degree.
This teacher recruitment study was conducted in one of the largest school districts in the United States. The participants (N ϭ 152) were newly hired teachers. Findings revealed the participants considered economic (e.g., teacher salary schedule), school (e.g., location), and community (e.g., cultural opportunities) attributes important in their decision to accept a teaching job. Some hiring process attributes (e.g., ease of the application process) received low ratings. Score on a hiring process scale was the most powerful predictor of teacher satisfaction with the recruitment process and attraction to a teaching job in the district. Implications for practice and future research are discussed. Arguably one of the most important responsibilities accorded to educational leaders is the administrative task of staffing schools with the best possible teachers. There is broad consensus among educational researchers that the quality of the teaching staff has a direct and important bearing on student learning outcomes (Castetter & Young, 2000; Rebore, 2001). Research about teacher recruitment is timely because of the teacher shortage impacting the nation's public schools (American Association for
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