An Examination of Administrators' Knowledge of the Standards for Mathematical Practice - A Think Aloud

Administrators who observe mathematics teachers need to have knowledge and an understanding of mathematics teaching and learning to effectively evaluate teachers and how their instructional practices relate to student thinking. This research study was conducted to illustrate the importance of understanding the thought process of administrators as they make decisions about teacher effectiveness based on what they notice during observations of mathematics classrooms. The purpose of this study was to examine what administrators attend to in the instructional environment and how what they notice influences their ability to identify the Common Core State Standards, Standards for Mathematical Practice. A purposive sample of six administrators engaged in cognitive interviews, known as think alouds, while observing two mathematics classroom videos. This study was designed to explore how administrators* instructional leadership knowledge or skills influence what they notice during mathematics instruction. There was evidence that administrators did notice aspects of the instructional environment pertaining to teachers, students, and, content. However, in this study it was found that administrators with an understanding of mathematics teaching and learning attended more to student*s mathematical thinking during instruction. It was also found that there was an increase of the administrators* mathematical language and attention to student interactions with mathematics content when the administrators were presented with a tool describing the elements of a classroom engaged in the Standards for Mathematical Practice.

Author dc:creator

• Glenn-White, Vernita

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dixon, Juli

• Standards for mathematical practice; administrators; think aloud; classroom observations
• Education
• Dissertations, Academic -- Education and Human Performance; Education and Human Performance -- Dissertations, Academic

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

CFE0005797

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-1670