Assessing the Impact of the MSPs: K-8 Science (AIM: K-8 Science)

Horizon Research Inc, Chapel Hill NC

Investigators

Abstract

This project is studying the impact of NSF's Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program on teacher content knowledge, classroom practice, and student achievement. This cross-site study is examining the relationship between the nature of teachers' professional development experiences and both teacher and student outcomes across 10 MSP projects. An advisory board with expertise in research design, data analysis, professional development, and science content is providing feedback throughout the study. What the field knows about professional development strategies to deepen the content knowledge of mathematics and science teachers is surprisingly limited given the extent of efforts in this area. One challenge for moving forward from these findings is that people use the term teacher content knowledge to mean very different things. Another challenge for the field is understanding which strategies or features matter most in professional development programs focused on deepening teacher content knowledge. Finally, substantial constraints in the research design, and/or instrumentation of many of the studies of professional development in the current literature have limited what has been learned. The study is addressing these challenges by developing a system for capturing equivalent data across MSP projects. The study is documenting details on the professional development offered to teachers (i.e., the interventions), as well as measuring teacher content knowledge and student learning using common instruments across the MSPs. Data are being analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). The first phase of the analysis examines the impact of the MSPs on teacher content knowledge and investigates the relative impacts of different approaches to the professional development. The second phase extends the work to explore the relationships among teacher content knowledge, classroom practices, and student achievement. The study is also examining which MSP approaches appear most promising for closing historic achievement gaps. In addition, the study is providing project-specific impact findings for each partner MSP, including results from appropriate statistical tests, and assisting partners with designing and implementing further analyses. Partner MSPs are given feedback on reports/articles they prepare using the standards of evidence review process developed by the MSP Knowledge Management and Dissemination project. This project is adding to the knowledge base in several important ways. First, findings about the impact of MSPs on K-8 science teacher content knowledge, classroom practice, and student learning can provide guidance in the design of future professional development efforts. Second, the methodology for improving project-specific evaluations and at the same time providing data for more extensive and sophisticated cross-site analyses has the potential to enhance knowledge generation in future programs supported by NSF and other funders.