Research Papers Describing the Impact of Mathematics Specialists
Campbell, P., & Malkus, N. The Impact of Elementary Mathematics Coaches on Student Achievement. The Elementary School Journal, Volume 111 (2011), 430 – 454. (full document)
Elementary mathematics coaches are placed in schools to construct leadership roles and to provide on-site, collaborative, professional development addressing mathematical content, pedagogy, and curriculum in an effort to enhance instruction and to improve student achievement. This 3-year randomized control study found that over time coaches positively impacted student achievement in Grades 3, 4 and 5. In these grades, this significant positive effect on student achievement was not evident at the conclusion of the first year of placement of a coach in a school. It emerged as knowledgeable coaches gained experience and as a school’s instructional and administrative staffs learned and worked together. The coaches in this study engaged in a high degree of professional coursework addressing mathematics content, pedagogy, and coaching prior to and during at least their first year of placement. Findings should not be generalized to coaches with less expertise.
Campbell, P., & Malkus, N. (in press). The Impact of Elementary Mathematics Specialists. The Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations. (full document)
Elementary Mathematics Specialists are placed in schools to construct leadership roles and to provide on-site professional development addressing mathematical content and pedagogy in order to enhance instruction and to improve student achievement. A three-year, randomized, control study found that, over time, Specialists had a significant positive impact on student achievement in Grades 3, 4, and 5. This effect on student achievement was not evident at the conclusion of the Specialist’s first year of placement. It emerged as knowledgeable Specialists gained experience and as the schools’ instructional and administrative staffs learned and worked together. Specialists who were highly engaged with a teacher significantly impacted those teachers’ beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning. In addition, teachers in schools with a Specialist were more likely to participate in a non-coaching professional activity (attending mathematics-focused grade-level meetings, observing peers’ teaching, or attending schoolwide mathematics workshops). The Specialists in this study had substantial programmatic responsibilities that influenced their amount of available time for coaching teachers. Further, the Specialists in this study engaged in a high degree of professional coursework prior to and during at least their first year of placement. Findings should not be generalized to Mathematics Specialists or coaches with less expertise.
Campbell, P. (in press). Coaching and Elementary Mathematics Specialists: Findings from Research. In J. M. Bay-Williams (editor), Professional Collaborations in Mathematics Teaching and Learning: Seeking Success for All. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers or Mathematics.
This chapter presents a review of published research addressing the complexity and effectiveness of the elementary mathematics coach or specialist. As such it considers research addressing the intended roles for specialists and the challenges they typically face in practice, as well as the findings of a study that documented the statistically significant, positive, impact of elementary mathematics specialists on student achievement and on teacher beliefs in Grades 3-5. This paper presents evidence supporting the following inference: Elementary mathematics specialists may serve as positive change agents for instructional improvement and teachers' professional growth, but to do so specialists must have the time and tendency to establish, develop and maintain collaborative teacher-specialist-principal networks in their schools. It is these networks that support a collective, professional identity for a school’s mathematics program. A critical component for improved student achievement is the positioning of specialists who have strong mathematical content and pedagogical knowledge, who understand their responsibilities, and who can apply the tenets of skilled coaching. But to maximize impact, these knowledgeable specialists need to work collaboratively with supportive principals as instructional leaders in their schools.
Campbell, P. (2011). Elementary Mathematics Specialists: A Merger of Policy, Practice, and Research. In W. F. Tate, K. D. King, & C. R. Anderson, (editors), Disrupting Tradition: Research and Practice Pathways in Mathematics Education. (pp. 93-103). Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers or Mathematics.
When education is a successful enterprise, it is marked by collaboration between teachers, principals, students, parents, and district-level administrators, as well as by attention to district and state policy specifying assessment, curriculum and licensure. Research investigating the effectiveness of ideas or treatments defining change in some aspect of mathematics education in an effort to advance student achievement requires collaboration and attention to most of these components. This chapter illustrates how many of these constituents came together in Virginia as it tells the story of a research and development effort that investigated the effectiveness of elementary mathematics specialists. This research project had the goal of informing, if not influencing, policy in mathematics education. As such, it advances three lessons addressing the intersection of research and practice:
1. Be Willing to Learn. While it is critical for partners in an effort to share a common goal, it is also critical to bring other areas of expertise “to the table” while respecting the discrepant nature of the knowledge that differing team members provide.
2. Embed the Enterprise. When partnered teachers, specialists, mathematics supervisors, principals, mathematicians, and mathematics education researchers jointly feel that they serve essential roles and that their voices are being heard, they can garner support from their multiple audiences and keep lines of communication open while “waiting” for research results.
3. Collaborate without Competition. Policymakers, researchers, professional developers, mathematicians, mathematics educators, administrators, and practitioners have differing perspectives that are frequently contradictory and sometimes elusive. By sharing a non-competitive sense of mutual obligation and responsibility, the research and practice enterprise may ultimately pay dividends.
Ellington, A., & Whitenack, J. Fractions and the funky cookie. Teaching Children Mathematics, 16, 532 – 539.
With a pattern block configuration called the Funky Cookie, a Mathematics Specialist worked with a small group of 5th grade students on their understanding of fractional parts of a whole unit. We present the mathematics behind the Funky Cookie and explain how the Mathematics Specialist used it to assist the students in developing their understanding of this aspect of fractional relationships. With this example, we highlight the important work of Mathematics Specialists in K-5 school buildings. (full document)
Blount, D., & Singleton, J. (2008). School division leaders keen on in-school mathematics experts. The Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations, 10, 133 – 142. (full document)
The members of the policy team for the TPC grant project interviewed 12 school division policy leaders about the important role of mathematics specialists in their school divisions. They discussed their reasons for wanting a specialist in their schools, the possibility of continuing to employ a specialist beyond the grant funding period, the program designed for training specialists, the possibility of expanding the program to other elementary and middle schools in the state. The division policy leaders were very supportive of mathematics specialists and the important role they play in elementary school buildings.
Bount, D., & Singleton, J. (2007). The role and impact of the mathematics specialist from the principal’s perspectives. The Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations, 9, 69 – 77. (full document)
The members of the policy team for the TPC grant project interviewed 12 principals about the integration of mathematics specialists in their school building. Through their conversations, several significant aspects of the mathematics specialist role in the school building emerged. Specifically, the principal’s role in helping the specialist with her work, the types of activities the specialist engages in, the specialist’s role in teacher improvement and retention, and the specialist’s work with students in diverse populations, and the specialist involvement in activities for parents and other community members. The principals were pleased with the work that specialists do and the impact they are having on all members of their buildings – students and teachers.
Whitenack, J., & Ellington, A. (2009). K-5 mathematics specialists’ teaching and learning about fractions. The Journal of Mathematics and Science: Collaborative Explorations, 11, 109 – 126. (full document)
This article describes the fraction-based activities of two teachers who were part of the MSP grant funded mathematics specialist preparation program. Their work with fractions is traced from two perspectives: (1) their interactions with students as they struggle with fraction concepts and (2) their personal journeys to develop deeper understandings of fractions in a rational numbers course that is part of the degree program. These stories provide the reader with a deeper understanding of the complex nature of the work of the specialist and the importance of a strong program to prepare them for their work.
Whitenack, J., & Ellington, A. (2007). A Methodology to Explain Teachers’ Emerging Roles As K-5 Mathematics Specialists. Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. (full document)
This paper describes the emerging roles of two K-5 mathematics specialists who are or who will be serving in leadership roles at their respective school buildings. One of the two teachers is a regular elementary classroom whereas the other teacher serves as a mathematics specialist in her school building. Both of these individuals were participants in a case study research project conducted through the MSP grant project. They also completed the degree program through the MSP project. The aim of this research study is to understand the participants’ induction processes in different settings as they become and/or continue to serve as mathematics specialists. The mathematics specialist coaches teachers on a daily basis and is established as the resident expert on how children learn mathematics. The classroom teacher designs her own opportunities to collaborate and co-teach with other teachers in her building. While she is not the specialist for her building, she is someone that others turn to with questions related to curriculum and pedagogical issues.