Impact of the Developing Mathematical Ideas professional development program on grade 4 students' and teachers' understanding of fractions

Title:	Impact of the Developing Mathematical Ideas professional development program on grade 4 students' and teachers' understanding of fractions
Description:	The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of the Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) professional development program on grade 4 teachers' in-depth knowledge of fractions as well as their students' understanding and proficiency with fractions. The study was conducted during the 2014/15 school year. A total of 84 schools from eight school districts in three states (Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina) agreed to participate. Participants included 264 grade 4 teachers and their 4,204 students. The study utilized the "gold standard" methodology involving random assignment of schools to either DMI or the control condition. Teachers in the DMI condition participated in 24 hours of professional development on fractions during fall 2014. They attended eight 3-hour sessions conducted over four days (two 3-hour sessions per day; one day per month). DMI did not demonstrate any impact on student knowledge of fractions. Students of DMI teachers performed at almost the same level as those taught by control teachers; the difference was not statistically significant. The impact of the DMI on teachers’ knowledge of fractions was inconclusive. DMI teachers performed slightly better than teachers who did not participate in DMI, but the result was not statistically significant. It was, however, close to the threshold of statistical significance (p = .051).
Online Availability:	Download, view and print the report as a pdf file. (537KB)
Cover Date:	March 2017
Web Release:	March 15, 2017
Publication #:	REL 2017256
Center/Program:	REL
Associated Centers:	NCEE
Authors:	Madhavi Jayanthi Russell Gersten Mary Jo Taylor Keith Smolkowski Joseph Dimino Instructional Research Group
Type of Product:	Impact Study
Keywords:	Mathematics Public Schools • elementary Randomized Control Trials States Teachers • professional development
Questions:	For questions about the content of this Impact Study, please contact: Amy Johnson.