Researching K16 Mathematics and Science Classrooms: Considerations and Challenges to Conducting Clas

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Researching K-16 Mathematics and Science
Classrooms Considerations and Challenges to
Conducting Classroom-Based Research

• Kathryn Chval
• University of Missouri-Columbia
• March 23, 2007

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Overview of the Session

• Current Context
• Added Conflict for Research/Practice
• An Illustration from One Research Study
• Strategies for Addressing the Conflict
• Illustrations from Research Studies

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Todays Context

• No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
• (NCLB, 2002).
• Opportunities or Burdens

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Scientifically-based Research
NCLB (2002) also requires that schools receiving
Title I funds use effective methods and
instructional strategies that are based on
scientifically based research, defined as
research that involves the application of
rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to
obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to
education activities and programs.
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Schools Requesting Research?

• For example, They want to know which of the
  commercially available mathematics curriculum
  sic are effective in enhancing student
  learning (p. 5).

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The Good News
These federal requirements and the resulting
requests from practitioners for research have led
political leaders and funding agencies to
encourage and support research intended to
provide guidance for schools efforts to enhance
student achievement.
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The Bad News

• The current context of high-stakes accountability
  and public access to information may, in fact,
  impede active collaboration between practitioners
  and researchers.

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An Illustration

• The following case discusses the current climate
  and illustrates several key challenges that we
  encountered in organizing and conducting research
  on the impact of school mathematics curriculum
  materials on teacher practice and student
  achievement.

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Challenges

• Acquiring Consent and Student Achievement Data
• Capturing Teacher Practices

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Student Achievement Data
The purpose of standardized tests has
changed. With the publics renewed interest in
mathematics achievement, the politicians cry for
increased student performance, and the demand by
both for more accountability, it is not
surprising that schools are less inclined to
participate in research involving the
administration of tests or the release of student
data.
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Teacher Responsibilities

• In the current educational context, additional
  pressures and responsibilities, such as preparing
  students for high-stakes assessments and
  documenting alignment with state and district
  standards, have placed additional time
  constraints on teachers schedules. It is not
  surprising that participation in research
  activities that do not provide clear, direct, and
  immediate benefits for improving teacher practice
  or student learning is not at the top of a
  teachers priority list.

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Observing Classrooms

• In our study, the greatest intrusion was the
  requirement that unknown investigators observe
  teachers mathematics instruction. Some teachers
  felt uneasy and uncomfortable about being
  observed. One teacher confessed to us that the
  scheduled observations caused sleeplessness and
  nausea. That reaction led us to ponder, Why
  should teachers open their classrooms to
  researchers?

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Symptomatic of a Larger Issue

• The obstacles we faced in designing and
  conducting one study are echoed countless times
  by other researchers in other settings (e.g.,
  DeBoer et al., 2004 Shafer, 2004 Weiss, Pasley,
  Smith, Banilower, Heck, 2003).
• As Whitehurst (2003) indicated, 77 of the
  school superintendents and local education
  officials in a recent survey spontaneously
  criticized existing research for its overly
  theoretical and academic orientation. A typical
  response was There may be less than one percent
  of the existing research thats really meaningful
  to teachers. (p. 5)

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Widening the Gap

• Educational research is not embedded in school
  cultures or the decision-making practices of
  teachers, and many educators are indifferent
  toward research (Hiebert, Gallimore, Stigler,
  2002 Whitehurst, 2003). Although this problem
  was identified many years ago (Fennema, 1981
  Kilpatrick, 1992), the education field does not
  appear to be making progress in addressing the
  problem.

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Need Strategies to Address the Problem

• If researchers explicitly demonstrated the
  benefits of collaborative research to
  practitioners, then practitioners might become
  more likely to collaborate with researchers.
• For educational research to have the opportunity
  to benefit both researchers and practitioners, it
  is imperative that researchers identify and
  implement strategies to address the gap between
  themselves and practitioners, build trust with
  school district personnel, provide attractive
  incentives for research participation, support
  schools in collecting relevant data, and better
  inform practitioners about the work that they do.

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Strategies

• 1. Establish new venues for interactions between
  practitioners and researchers, including forums
  for practitioners to discuss and share specific
  problems of practice.

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Example I Wonder

• What research regarding the organization and use
  of mathematics curriculum (standards, textbooks,
  assessments) would provide school administrators
  and teachers needed information to make
  well-informed decisions?

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What do you wonder?

• Do you think researchers, teachers, and
  administrators wonder about different things? Why
  or why not?
• What do you wonder about?

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Responses from Our Group

• Underrepresented Groups
• Math Specialists
• Relationship between reading and mathematics
• Impact of Different Tracks on Student
  Learning/Success/Retention in Mathematics
• Influence of State Testing

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Strategies

• 2. Demonstrate how educational research is
  conducted, how research can serve practitioners
  interests, and how they can play a role in
  accumulating professional knowledge to advance
  the field.

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Example
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Another View
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Intervening
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Strategies

• 3. Develop partnerships and long-term
  relationships between researchers and
  practitioners (including future teachers) that
  enhance practitioner participation and
  collaboration in research studies.

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Strategies

• 4. Communicate questions, findings, and
  implications to the broader community (parents,
  general public, and policymakers).

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Thank you!

• Thank you for your interest and hopefully your
  willingness to continue the conversation with
  others.