Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The FIRSTMATH Study: Concepts, Methods, and Strategies for Comparative International Research in Mathematics Education

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The First Five Years of Teaching Mathematics (FIRSTMATH)

  • 331 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter introduces the reader to the methods and findings of a National Science Foundation (NSF) funded proof-of-concept (PoC) research study of the first 5 years of teaching primary and secondary school mathematics (FIRSTMATH) using a comparative and international approach. Throughout the book, we discuss the challenges entailed in the development of concepts, methods, and strategies for scaling such a study. The research reported in this book builds from the methods and findings of the Teacher Education Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M), and earlier studies that have explored the experiences of beginning teachers. The key question for FIRSTMATH was: How do primary and secondary novice mathematics teachers differ nationally and cross-nationally in their demographic characteristics, preparation, knowledge for teaching, teaching assignments, working conditions, teaching practice, and pupil learning? The FIRSTMATH team developed knowledge tests and background questionnaires for beginning teachers and their pupils, as well as interviews and a mathematics-focused observation protocol to gather more direct evidence of instructional knowledge and practices, and explored an alternative to value added models (VAMs) to model teacher-pupil interactions as teachers pursue instructional goals.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    More countries across all regions of the world initially responded to our call to engage in this study. Issues with access and capacity made data collection difficult for some.

References

  • Alliance for Excellent Education. (2005). Teacher attrition: A costly loss to the nation and to the states. http://www.all4ed.org/files/archive/publications/TeacherAttrition.pdf

  • American Educational Research Association (AERA). (2015). AERA statement on use of value-added models (VAM) for the evaluation of educators and educator preparation programs. Educational Researcher, 44, 448–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baumert, J. R., Kunter, M., Blum, W., Brunner, M., Voss, T., Jordan, A., Klusmann, U., Krauss, S., Neubrand, M., & Tsai, Y. (2010). Teachers’ mathematical knowledge, cognitive activation in the classroom, and student progress. American Educational Research Journal, 47(1), 133–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berliner, D. (2001). Learning about learning from expert teachers. International Journal of Educational Research, 35(5), 463–482.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, D., Grossman, P., Lankford, H., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2006). How changes in entry requirements alter the teacher workforce and affect student achievement. Education Finance and Policy, 1(2), 176–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Britton, E., Paine, L., Pimm, D., & Raizen, S. (Eds.). (2003). Comprehensive teacher induction: Systems for early career learning. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cady, J., Meier, S. L., & Lubinski, C. A. (2006). Developing mathematics teachers: The transition from preservice to experienced teacher. Journal of Educational Research, 99(5), 295–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carnoy, M., Brodziak, I., Luschei, T., Beteille, T., & Loyalka, P. (2009). Do countries paying teachers higher relative salaries have higher student mathematics achievement? Amsterdam, the Netherlands: International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, D. K., Moffitt, S. L., & Goldin, S. (2007). Policy and practice. In S. Furman, D. Cohen, & F. Mosher (Eds.), The state of education policy research (pp. 63–85). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • De Ayala, R. J. (2009). The theory and practice of item response theory. New York, NY: The Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, A. (2016). The dialectic of person and practice: How cultural-historical accounts of agency can inform teacher education. In D. J. Clandinin (Ed.), SAGE handbook of research on teacher education (pp. 269–285). London, UK: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elmore, R. (2000). Building a new structure for school leadership. Washington, DC: The Albert Shanker Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fellers, P. S. (2014). Value-added methodology for estimating professional development program effects. Doctoral dissertation. http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI3642746

  • Fletcher, S. H., & Strong, M. (2009). Full-release and site-based mentoring of elementary grade new teachers: An analysis of changes in student achievement. New Educator, 5, 329–341.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fletcher, S. H., Strong, M., & Villar, A. (2008). An investigation of the effects of variations in mentor-based induction on the performance of students in California. Teachers College Record, 110, 2271–2289.

    Google Scholar 

  • Garet, M. S., Porter, A. C., Desimone, L., Birman, B. F., & Yoon, K. S. (2001). What makes professional development effective? Results from a national sample of teachers. American Educational Research Journal, 38(4), 915–945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glazerman, S., Senesky, S., Seftor, N., & Johnson, A. (2006). Design of an impact evaluation of teacher induction programs (Final Report No. 6137-070). Washington, DC: Mathematica Policy Research. http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/publications/PDFs/designimpact.pdf

  • Glazerman, S., Dolfin, S., Bleeker, M., Johnson, A., Isenberg, E., Lugo-Gil, J., Grider, M., Britton, E., & Ali, M. (2008). Impacts of comprehensive teacher induction: Results from the first year of a randomized controlled study (NCEE 2009-4034). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glazerman, S., Isenberg, E., Dolfin, S., Bleeker, M., Johnson, A., Grider, M., & Jacobus, M. (2010). Impacts of comprehensive teacher induction: Final results from a randomized controlled study (NCEE 2010-4027). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Good, T. L., Grows, D. A., & Ebmeier, M. (1983). Active mathematics teaching. New York, NY: Longman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, J., & Walsh, K. (2008). No common denominator: The preparation of elementary teachers in mathematics by America’s education schools. Washington, DC: National Council on Teacher Quality. http://www.nctq.org

  • Hill, H. C. (2010). The nature and predictors of elementary teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 41(5), 513–545.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hill, H. C., Blunk, M. L., Charalambous, C. Y., Lewis, J. M., Phelps, G. C., Sleep, L., & Ball, D. L. (2008). Mathematical knowledge for teaching and the mathematical quality of instruction: An exploratory study. Cognition and Instruction, 26, 430–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howe, E. R. (2006). Exemplary teacher induction: An international review. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 38(3), 287–297.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huberman, M. (1985). What knowledge is of most worth to teachers? A knowledge-use perspective. Teaching and Teacher Education, 1(3), 251–262.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingersoll, R., Merrill, L., & May, H. (2014). What are the effects of teacher education and preparation on beginning teacher attrition? (#RR-82). Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingersoll, R. M. (2001). Teacher turnover and teacher shortages: An organizational analysis. American Educational Research Journal, 38(3), 499–534.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ingersoll, R. M., & Strong, M. (2011). The impact of induction and mentoring programs for beginning teachers: A critical review of the research. Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 201–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Isenberg, E., Glazerman, S., Bleeker, M., Johnson, A., Lugo-Gil, J., Grider, M., & Dolfin, S. (2009). Impacts of comprehensive teacher induction: Results from the second year of a randomized controlled study (NCEE 2009–4072). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S. M., & Birkeland, S. E. (2003). Pursuing a “sense of success”: New teachers explain their career decisions. American Educational Research Journal, 40(3), 581–617.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, S. M., Kardos, S. M., Kauffman, D., Liu, E. & Donaldson, M. L. (2004). The support gap: New teachers’ early experiences in high income and low-income schools. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12(61). http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n61/

  • Kane, T. (2007). New teachers outdo peers of last decade on academic scales. Education Week, 12/19/07. https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/12/19/16ets.h27.html

    Google Scholar 

  • Kardos, S. M., Johnson, S. M., Peske, H. G., Kauffman, D., & Liu, E. (2001). Counting on colleagues: New teachers encounter the professional cultures of their schools. Educational Administration Quarterly, 37(2), 250–290.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krauss, S., Brunner, M., Kunter, M., Baumert, J. R., Blum, W., Neubrand, M., & Alexander, J. (2008). Pedagogical content knowledge and content knowledge of secondary mathematics teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 716–725.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LeCompte, M. D. (2009). Trends in research on teaching: an historical and critical overview. In L. J. Saha & A. G. Dworkin (Eds.), International handbook of research on teachers and teaching. Boston, MA: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martineau, J. A. (2004). The effects of construct shift on growth and accountability models. Unpublished dissertation, Michigan State University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Munby, H. H., Russell, T., & Martin, A. K. (2001). Teachers’ knowledge and how it developed. In V. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 87–904). Washington, DC: American Educational Research Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Academy of Sciences. (2001). Educating teachers of science, mathematics, and technology, new practices for the new millennium. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. https://www.nap.edu/catalog/9832/educating-teachers-of-science-mathematics-and-technology-new-practices-for

  • National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. (2005). Induction to learning communities. National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future. http://www.nctaf.org/documents/NCTAF_Induction_Paper_2005.pdf

  • OECD. (2010). Educating teachers for diversity: Meeting the challenge. http://www.oecd.org/education/ceri/educatingteachersfordiversitymeetingthechallenge.htm

  • OECD. (2011). Building a high-quality teaching profession: Lessons from around the World. http://www.oecd.org/education/school/programmeforinternationalstudentassessmentpisa/buildingahigh-qualityteachingprofessionlessonsfromaroundtheworld.htm

  • Rockoff, J. E. (2008). Does mentoring reduce turnover and improve skills of new employees? Evidence from teachers in New York City (Working Paper 13868). Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research. http://www.nber.org/papers/w13868

  • Stanulis, R. N., Little, S., & Wibbens, E. (2012). Intensive mentoring that contributes to change in beginning elementary teachers’ learning to lead classroom discussions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(1), 32–43.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T. (1996). Examining values and beliefs about teaching diverse students: Understanding the challenges for teacher education. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 18, 155–180.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T. (1998). The influence of teacher education on teachers’ beliefs about purposes of education, roles and practice. Journal of Teacher Education, 49, 66–77.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T. (1999). The socializing influence of normative cohesive teacher education on teachers’ beliefs about instructional choice. Teachers and Teaching, 5, 111–134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T. (2007). Reforming teaching globally. Oxford, UK: Symposium Books. (Reprinted in 2009 Information Age Publishers).

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T. (Ed.). (2013). The Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M). Policy, practice, and readiness to teach primary and secondary mathematics in 17 countries: Technical report. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: International Association for the Evaluation of Student Achievement.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T. (2015). The role of research in the policy and practice of quality teacher education: An international review. Oxford Review of Education, 41(2), 171–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T. (2017). The role of comparative and international research in developing capacity to study and improve teacher education. In M. A. Peters, B. Cowie, & I. Menter (Eds.), A companion to research in teacher education. Singapore, Singapore: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T., & Bankov, K. (2018). The intended, implemented, and achieved curriculum of mathematics teacher education in the United States. In M. T. Tatto, M. C. Rodriguez, W. M. Smith, M. D. Reckase, & K. Bankov (Eds.), Exploring the mathematics education of teachers using TEDS-M data. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T., Burn, K., Menter, I., Mutton, T., & Thompson, I. (2018). Learning to teach in England and the United States: The evolution of policy and practice. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T., & Hordern, J. (2017). The configuration of teacher education as a professional field of practice: A comparative study of mathematics education. In J. Furlong & G. Whitty (Eds.), Knowledge and the study of education: An international exploration (pp. 255–274). Oxford, UK: Oxford Comparative Education Series, Symposium Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T., Rodriguez, M. C., Smith, W. M., Reckase, M. D., & Bankov, K. (Eds.). (2018). Exploring the mathematics education of teachers using TEDS-M data. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tatto, M. T., Schwille, J., Senk, S. L., Ingvarson, L., Rowley, G., Peck, R., … Reckase, M. (2012). Policy, practice, and readiness to teach primary and secondary mathematics in 17 countries. Findings from the IEA Teacher Education and Development Study in Mathematics (TEDS-M). Amsterdam, the Netherlands: International Association for the Evaluation of Student Achievement.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, J., Odell, S. J., & Schwille, S. A. (2008). Effects of teacher induction on beginning teachers' teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 59(2), 132–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, J., & Paine, L. W. (2001). Mentoring as assisted performance: A pair of Chinese teachers working together. Elementary School Journal, 102(2), 157–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wong, K. H., Britton, T., & Ganser, T. (2005). What the world can teach us about new teacher induction. Phi Delta Kappan, 86(5), 379–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA

    Maria Teresa Tatto

  2. Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Michael C. Rodriguez

  3. College of Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Mark D. Reckase

  4. Center for Science, Mathematics & Computer Education, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA

    Wendy M. Smith

  5. Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, the University of Sofia, Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Kiril Bankov

  6. Oakland Community College, East Lansing, MI, USA

    James Pippin

Authors
  1. Maria Teresa Tatto
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Michael C. Rodriguez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mark D. Reckase
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Wendy M. Smith
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kiril Bankov
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. James Pippin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Tatto, M.T., Rodriguez, M.C., Reckase, M.D., Smith, W.M., Bankov, K., Pippin, J. (2020). The FIRSTMATH Study: Concepts, Methods, and Strategies for Comparative International Research in Mathematics Education. In: The First Five Years of Teaching Mathematics (FIRSTMATH). Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44047-3_1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44047-3_1

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-44046-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-44047-3

  • eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation