1. The role of subject-matter content in teacher preparation: an international perspective for mathematics

Author: William H. Schmidt Education and Statistics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, United States

Source: Journal of Curriculum Studies (03 Mar 2016):111-131

Abstract:

International comparative studies in education provide a fresh perspective on K-12 education policy by enabling countries to learn from each other’s approaches. The recently conducted Teacher Education and Development Study—Mathematics provides a worldwide lens by which to examine the role of subject-matter in the preparation of US teachers of mathematics for primary and lower secondary students. More specifically, a previous study looking at the international top-performing teacher preparation programmes identified a common set of learning experiences (topics/content) related to mathematics. This empirically derived international benchmark is used in this paper to examine the quality of the mathematics preparation of future US teachers in various university and college programmes.

 

2. Elementary school teachers’ uses of mathematics curricular resources

Author: Drew Polly Department of Reading and Elementary Education, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA 
Source: Journal of Curriculum Studies (02 Mar 2016):132-148

Abstract:

With the adoption of new content standards, teachers are often left without adequate curriculum resources. This study examined how educators used their curricular resources to teach new mathematics standards in the USA. Analyses of open-ended survey responses from 257 teachers and teacher–leaders in Grades 3 through Grade 5 indicated that every educator reported supplementing their districts’ or schools’ primary curricular resources with other materials. These supplements primarily included resources found for free on websites and resources that claimed to be aligned to the new standards, but varied in terms of alignment to national standards for effective mathematics curriculum. Implications for this study include further research on how teachers make decisions regarding curriculum resources as well as increasing teachers’ access to quality curriculum materials that can support students’ mathematical learning.

 

3. The role of the formal written curriculum in standards-based reform

Author:  & Source: Journal of Curriculum Studies (30 Jun 2016):149-168

Abstract:

More than 15 years after the introduction of a standards-based curriculum reform, the mathematics teachers are positive towards the reform message but have not changed their classroom practice accordingly. To improve the impact of future reforms, it is important to learn from this situation and to better understand the role of the national policy documents. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine how the standards-based reform in mathematics in Sweden was conveyed in the formal written curriculum. The research questions focus on to what extent and how clearly the national policy documents convey the message. The results show that the message is present to a large extent in the policy documents, but that it is vague and formulated with complex wording. The study gives concrete examples and shows in detail in what ways the documents are vague and complex. 

 

4. Mathematics engagement in an Australian lower secondary school

Author: Source: Journal of Curriculum Studies (11 Feb 2016):169-190

Abstract:

The importance of actively engaging in mathematics discourse in order to learn mathematics is well recognized. In this paper, I use Basil Bernstein’s concepts of pedagogic discourse to document and analyse academic learning time of students in Years 8 and 9 at a suburban lower secondary school: in particular, for what proportion of class time students reported being academically engaged, their explanations for this engagement and how they felt about the discourse. It was found that many students had disengaged from mathematical endeavour as a result of the failure of the instructional discourse either to engage students or to serve the purpose of developing discipline-specific content knowledge. The reasons for this relate to the overemphasis on mundane mathematics resulting in some students lacking the cognitive tools to engage with the concepts and having neither the intrinsic nor instrumental motivation to persist with secondary school esoteric mathematics. The implications for mathematics curriculum development are discussed. 

 

5. Effects of a reform high school mathematics curriculum on student achievement: whom does it benefit?

Author: Erin E. Krupa& Jere Confrey

Source: Journal of Curriculum Studies (04 Aug 2015):191-215

Abstract:

This study compared the effects of an integrated reform-based curriculum to a subject-specific curriculum on student learning of 19,526 high school algebra students. Using hierarchical linear modelling to account for variation in student achievement, the impact of the reform-based Core-Plus Mathematics curricular materials on student test scores is compared to the subject-specific curriculum. Findings from this study indicate that students enrolled in integrated mathematics outperformed subject-specific students on an Algebra I exam (highly aligned with content), and performed equally on an Algebra II exam (poorly aligned). High minority students in high-need schools demonstrated higher performance when they were enrolled in integrated mathematics. 

 

6. Does social justice count? ‘Lived democracy’ in mathematics classes in diverse Swedish upper secondary programmes

Author: Carina Hjelmér Department of Applied Educational Science, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden 
Source: Journal of Curriculum Studies (25 Jan 2016):216-234

Abstract:

This article analyses what students attending four Swedish upper secondary school programmes with different social class profiles tried and wanted to influence in relation to mathematics teachers’ pedagogic practice and responses during the year 2008/2009. The theoretical framework is based on Bernstein’s theories regarding power and control. The analyses draw on ethnographic observations of classes taking the Natural Science and Social Science academic programmes, and the Vehicle and Child and Recreation vocational programmes, at two Swedish upper secondary schools. Students attending different programmes tried to influence the teaching. However, what the students taking the academic and vocational programmes were able to influence considerably differed. Generally, the vocational students exerted influence more successfully when they wanted to reduce the pace and difficulty of teaching, than when they wished to get more out of their education, while the opposite applied to the academic, especially Natural Science, students. Thus, the power relations reflected the programmes’ social class profiles and the students’ expected positions in society, despite policies at the time to promote democracy and reduce social reproduction in education. The findings support the importance of analysing not only students’ voices, but also their voices in relation to the pedagogic practice they encounter.

 

7. Practice architectures and sustainable curriculum renewal

Author: Victoria A. Goodyear

Source: Journal of Curriculum Studies (11 Mar 2016):235-254

Abstract:

While there are numerous pedagogical innovations and varying forms of professional learning to support change, teachers rarely move beyond the initial implementation of new ideas and policies and few innovations reach the institutionalized stage. Building on both site ontologies and situated learning in communities of practice perspectives, this paper explores the theory of practice architectures to offer a different and legitimate perspective on sustainable curriculum renewal. Specifically, a practice architecture either enables or constrains particular practice and constitutes the construction of practice from semantic (e.g. language), social (e.g. power relations) and physical (e.g. materials) spaces. Through the juxtaposition of practice architectures with an empirical illustration of longer term pedagogical change, the paper argues that for pedagogical change to be sustained a practice architecture that relates to an innovation’s intended learning outcomes and the contexts in which an innovation can be used needs to be created. Consequently, the theory of practice architectures can guide reform programmes. Curricularists can begin programmes with a pre-planned approach to assist, (a) teachers’ understanding of how to use an innovation, and (b) the deconstruction and reconstruction of practice architectures to support an innovation’s survival.