Students felt more engaged and challenged when teachers used PL strategies that centered culture and deepened discourse.
Status: Completed May 2024
This study evaluates the impact of Teaching Lab’s professional learning (PL) series on math instruction in New Mexico, focusing on how it affects teacher practices and student experiences. Using a randomized controlled trial involving 38 secondary math teachers and over 500 students across two academic years, the study measures changes in culturally responsive pedagogy, instructional discourse, and student engagement through surveys, classroom observations, and qualitative lesson analysis.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
- What is the impact of Teaching Lab’s PL series on teachers’ instructional practices, particularly their use of culturally responsive and sustaining education (CRSE) strategies and their ability to engage students in mathematical discourse?
- How does participation in the PL series affect students’ classroom experiences, including their perceptions of culturally responsive teaching, engagement, and happiness in math class, academic challenge, and math self-efficacy?
- To what extent does the PL series influence teachers’ mindsets and beliefs about growth and student potential in mathematics learning?
- How do qualitative features of classroom instruction—especially the use and quality of Mathematical Language Routines (MLRs)—differ between teachers who participated in the PL and those who did not?
key findings:
- Students in classrooms of teachers who received PL reported more culturally responsive and sustaining education, increased engagement and happiness, and felt more challenged.
- Teachers who received PL showed significant improvements in prompting student thinking and fostering student justification and critique during classroom discussions.
- While both treatment and control groups used MLRs, the quality of MLR implementation was generally stronger in treatment group classrooms.