Summary of Research on the Effectiveness of Math Professional Development Approaches

Title:	Summary of Research on the Effectiveness of Math Professional Development Approaches
Description:	The study identified and screened 910 research studies in a comprehensive literature search for effectiveness studies of math professional development approaches. Of these 910 studies, 643 examined professional development approaches related to math in grades K-12 and were conducted in the United States. Of the 643 studies, 32 focused primarily on math professional development provided to teachers and used a research design for examining effectiveness. Five of those were determined to have met WWC evidence standards (version 2.1) either with or without reservations. And of those five, only two found positive effects on students' math proficiency. Thus, there is very limited causal evidence to guide districts and schools in selecting a math professional development approach or to support developers' claims about their approaches.
Online Availability:	Download, view and print the report as a pdf file. (254KB)
Cover Date:	January 2014
Web Release:	January 22, 2014
Print Release:	January 22, 2014
Publication #:	REL 2014010 General Ordering Information
Center/Program:	REL
Associated Centers:	NCEE
Authors:	Russell Gersten, Mary Jo Taylor, Tran D. Keys, Eric Rolfhus, and Rebecca Newman-Gonchar: Instructional Research Group
Type of Product:	What's Known
Keywords:	Mathematics Professional Development Teachers • professional development
Questions:	For questions about the content of this What's Known, please contact: Erin Pollard.