According to an announcement by Horizon Research at
<http://www.pdmathsci.net/>, a pre-publication copy of "Lessons from
a Decade of Mathematics and Science Reform: A Capstone Report for the
Local Systemic Change through Teacher Enhancement Initiative,"
[Banilower et al. (2006)] is now available. It is stated that the
report:
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"Presents major findings from a 10-year, large scale study of 75,000
mathematics and science teachers who participated in 88 LSC projects,
with support from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of
Elementary, Secondary, and Informal Education.
The LSC projects provide valuable lessons in providing effective
professional development to K-12 teachers to improve mathematics and
science classroom instruction. About a third of the professional
development offered across LSC projects focused on deepening
teachers' knowledge of mathematics/science content, a third on
improving their knowledge of pedagogy and a third on increasing their
understanding of district-adopted instructional materials.
NSF contracted with Horizon Research Inc. (HRI) of Chapel Hill, North
Carolina to develop a data collection framework, to provide technical
assistance in implementing evaluation activities and to prepare
cross-site analyses of evaluation results."
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On page 9 it is stated that "the LSC theory of action argues that
providing teachers with opportunities to deepen their content and
pedagogical knowledge in the context of high quality instructional
materials will result in better-prepared teachers. The theory also
predicts that these teachers, with ongoing support, will be more
inclined to change their instruction in ways advocated by national
standards, and will have more capacity to do so. Improved instruction
will in turn lead to higher student achievement."
However, footnote 4 states: "Examining the link between improved
instruction and student outcomes was not required of projects, or the
core evaluation, until the fifth cohort of projects." So direct
measures of student learning are not reported by Banilower et al.
(2006). Also, there appears to be no description or designation of
the "high quality instructional materials."
I thank Paul Hickman for bringing this report to my attention.
REFERENCES
Banilower, E.R., S.E. Boyd, J.D Pasley, and I.R. Weiss. 2006.
"Lessons from a Decade of Mathematics and Science Reform: A Capstone
Report for the Local Systemic Change through Teacher Enhancement
Initiative," pre-publication copy, updated on February 2006, online
as a 354K pdf at <http://www.pdmathsci.net/findings/report/32>.