Virginia Mathematics Teacher Fall 2016

Table 1. Alignment of Federal/State Priorities with Research-Based Principles and Project Examples

Examples

Priorities

Research-based Principles

Design : Partnerships be- tween school divisions and institutions of higher education to provide PD in high needs schools

Multi-stakeholder leader- ship team for project de- cision making Collaborative learning among teachers within and across schools Analysis of school divi- sion characteristics; teacher input On-going professional development Grade or subject level teams Opportunities to deepen specific curricular con- tent knowledge Use of a specific instruc- tional model to integrate content with practices; deepen pedagogical con- tent knowledge Teacher assessment liter- acy for improved instruc- tional decision making Use of instructional coaching

(Novak & Middendorf, 2004). Open-ended questions without a single correct answer or a quantitative or “yes/no” answer were used to structure the content-based investigations and guide participants’ thinking during key activities such as data analysis (Stenmark, Penmark & Asturias, 1994). Discussions and written prompts permitted reflection for practice (Clarke, 2000) to promote transfer to the classroom. The project also addressed local priorities of developing assessments to measure student progress. Teachers used SOL documents to generate performance Teachers reviewed products of pilot work to inform imple- mentation and classroom management recommendations (LENS, Bridges) Regular planning meetings throughout the project; division input into content and format of professional development; ‘debrief’ meetings at institutes and school year work days (LENS, D’n’A) Interdisciplinary groups of teachers from within the same schools conducted field investigations; discipline specific groups among teachers created authentic assessments (LENS, D’n’A, Bridges) SOL scores by strand and question determine PD content (Bridges); teacher survey determines needs and interest in PD models (LENS) Teachers participated in multiple years of summer insti- tutes and school year work days (LENS, D’n’A, Bridges) Coach co-facilitated institute to establish rapport; observed teaching and debriefed afterwards; gathered feedback (Bridges) Teachers worked in grade level teams when learning and practicing the new instructional model (Bridges) Teachers designed and conducted their own college-level field investigations, the content of which was aligned with specific SOLs (LENS) Argument Driven Inquiry (ADI) trained faculty designed SOL- based investigations; teachers were taught content through the strategy; teachers implemented investigations during the school year (D’n’A, Bridges) Cohorts of teachers identified performance standards, SOL content and cognitive levels, created rubrics, tables of speci- fications, and items. (LENS, D’n’A, Bridges)

Design : Data-informed project design originating from a comprehensive needs assessment

Implementation : School- based approach

Implementation : Atten- tion to connections across the curriculum, including vertical alignment and application across sub- jects Implementation : Teaching of content through discipli- nary practices

Implementation : Assess- ments provide feedback and measure student pro- gress

Use of student work to reflect on practices

in heterogeneous groups (Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Earth Science) to design and conduct field-based investigations 2 . An interdisciplinary team of college faculty acted as facilitators. The open-ended, participant-centered nature of the projects and variations in participants’ prior knowledge necessitated just-in-time teaching, a method involving a cycle of questioning and content exploration to target gaps in understanding

2 A project description and video is available at http:// www.odu.edu/education/programs/tcep/project/lens

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