“Maths is Challenge, Struggle and Mistakes Will Grow Our Brain”: The Impact on Student Attitude, Confidence and Achievement of the Introduction of Inquiry-Based Learning into the Mathematics Programme of a New Zealand Primary School

<p>Underachievement in mathematics in Aotearoa/New Zealand continues to be an issue for some students. Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) has been described by research as one way of addressing these underachievement issues. Ongoing underachievement impacts on students’ confidence which may exacerbate underachievement in a downward spiral. Research has shown that both confidence and achievement can be positively influenced by IBL, therefore IBL was trialled here at All Saints School. This thesis describes a research project which sought to determine the impact of an IBL teaching intervention with the aim of improving outcomes for students underachieving in mathematics. It examines the impact on students’ attitude, confidence and achievement that resulted from the introduction of IBL into the mathematics teaching and learning programme of three classes, Years 3, 4 and 6, in a high socio-economic status (SES), high achieving, urban Catholic full primary school. The intervention drew on a professional learning community where the participant teachers explored literature on IBL and worked together to assist each other to add IBL to the teaching and learning programme for mathematics. The study design was a mixed methods case study. Qualitative data were gathered through student interviews and surveys. The intervention was undertaken over a full school year, so quantitative achievement data were gathered from the school’s usual assessment methods without the introduction of further external testing or assessment. Student surveys and interviews from three classes totalling 51 students informed the research questions on student attitude and confidence. Over-all Teacher Judgement (OTJ) and Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) provided quantitative data which informed the research questions on the impact IBL had on student achievement and the achievement gap between the highest and lowest achievers. In this school setting students began the intervention with a very positive attitude to mathematics and only minor variations to this were observed. Students also began with a high level of confidence in their overall mathematical ability, but very low confidence in their problem-solving ability specifically. By the end of the intervention, their high level of confidence had extended to their problem-solving confidence also. PAT achievement data revealed the Year 3 class and the Year 4 underachieving students both made mean achievement gains of a statistically significant level. The Year 4 class only just reached national averages, but the Year 3 and 6 classes exceeding national average results for their year level. A deeper exploration of the data revealed that the low achieving students made major achievement gains for the intervention year. The low achieving Year 4 and 6 students made gains that exceeded both national averages and their high achieving classmates by large margins. Taken together these results further add to the body of evidence that argues for the inclusion of IBL in schools’ mathematics programmes.</p>

“Maths is Challenge, Struggle and Mistakes Will Grow Our Brain”: The Impact on Student Attitude, Confidence and Achievement of the Introduction of Inquiry-Based Learning into the Mathematics Programme of a New Zealand Primary School

<p>Underachievement in mathematics in Aotearoa/New Zealand continues to be an issue for some students. Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) has been described by research as one way of addressing these underachievement issues. Ongoing underachievement impacts on students’ confidence which may exacerbate underachievement in a downward spiral. Research has shown that both confidence and achievement can be positively influenced by IBL, therefore IBL was trialled here at All Saints School. This thesis describes a research project which sought to determine the impact of an IBL teaching intervention with the aim of improving outcomes for students underachieving in mathematics. It examines the impact on students’ attitude, confidence and achievement that resulted from the introduction of IBL into the mathematics teaching and learning programme of three classes, Years 3, 4 and 6, in a high socio-economic status (SES), high achieving, urban Catholic full primary school. The intervention drew on a professional learning community where the participant teachers explored literature on IBL and worked together to assist each other to add IBL to the teaching and learning programme for mathematics. The study design was a mixed methods case study. Qualitative data were gathered through student interviews and surveys. The intervention was undertaken over a full school year, so quantitative achievement data were gathered from the school’s usual assessment methods without the introduction of further external testing or assessment. Student surveys and interviews from three classes totalling 51 students informed the research questions on student attitude and confidence. Over-all Teacher Judgement (OTJ) and Progressive Achievement Tests (PAT) provided quantitative data which informed the research questions on the impact IBL had on student achievement and the achievement gap between the highest and lowest achievers. In this school setting students began the intervention with a very positive attitude to mathematics and only minor variations to this were observed. Students also began with a high level of confidence in their overall mathematical ability, but very low confidence in their problem-solving ability specifically. By the end of the intervention, their high level of confidence had extended to their problem-solving confidence also. PAT achievement data revealed the Year 3 class and the Year 4 underachieving students both made mean achievement gains of a statistically significant level. The Year 4 class only just reached national averages, but the Year 3 and 6 classes exceeding national average results for their year level. A deeper exploration of the data revealed that the low achieving students made major achievement gains for the intervention year. The low achieving Year 4 and 6 students made gains that exceeded both national averages and their high achieving classmates by large margins. Taken together these results further add to the body of evidence that argues for the inclusion of IBL in schools’ mathematics programmes.</p>

Teacher Expectations and Parental Stress During Emergency Distance Learning and Their Relationship to Students’ Perception

School closures in spring 2020 caused by the COVID-19 pandemic were an unprecedented and drastic event for students, parents, and teachers. The unplanned adaptation of classroom instruction to emergency distance learning was necessary to ensure continued education. In this new learning environment, teachers formed expectations for student academic achievement gains, which in turn affected the opportunities for students to learn. Parents faced new challenges in supporting their children’s learning. According to parenting stress models, such drastic events can be a stress factor for parents, which in turn affects their children’s adjustment. This study analyzed the extent to which parents and teachers affected the perceptions of students in compulsory school toward distance learning through processes at home (individual level) and at the class level with data from multiple informants. On an individual level, the relationship between parents’ perceived threat of COVID-19 and their stress due to distance learning and students’ perceived threat of COVID-19 and their perception of distance learning were examined. Students’ learning behavior was accounted for as a variable related to their perception of distance learning. At the class level, the explanatory character of teacher expectations and class-aggregated achievement gains were examined. Data on students in grades 4 to 8, parents, and teachers in Switzerland were collected with standardized online questionnaires after the period of school closures. A subsample of 539 students, 539 parents, and 83 teachers was analyzed. The results of multilevel structural equation modeling suggested that students had a more positive perception of distance learning if they were able to learn more autonomously (i.e., more motivated and concentrated than in regular classroom instruction) and if their parents felt less stressed in the distance learning setting. Parents were more stressed if they perceived COVID-19 as a threat. Students’ perception of the COVID-19 threat was related to their parents’ perception but did not explain students’ learning behavior. At the class level, if teachers expected high academic achievement gains in distance learning, the average academic achievement gains of a class were greater. The greater the achievement gains were, the more positive the collective student perception of distance learning was.

Just do it! Study time increases mathematical achievement scores for grade 4-10 students in a large longitudinal cross-country study

Decades of research produced inconsistent findings on whether study time can lead to achievement gains in mathematics. Data generated by more than six thousand students from three different countries who solved more than 1.1 million problem sets using a dedicated mathematics software are analyzed regarding the effect of study time on students’ achievements in mathematics. Results showed that more study time led to higher performance scores in mathematics. Further analyses revealed that low-performing students in the first school year (2017-2018) who increased their study time in the following year (2018-2019) revealed greatest gains in performance in the same school year (2018-2019) and even in the year after (2019-2020). Finally, results replicated previous observations of robust performance scores within students over the three school years, with performance scores in 2017-2018 predicting those of 2018-2019 which predicted those of 2019-2020. These results support the idea that students, in particular low-performing students, can boost their academic abilities to upper levels when increasing their study time.

Can Successful Schools Replicate? Scaling Up Boston’s Charter School Sector

Can schools that boost student outcomes reproduce their success at new campuses? We study a policy reform that allowed effective charter schools in Boston, Massachusetts to replicate their school models at new locations. Estimates based on randomized admission lotteries show that replication charter schools generate large achievement gains on par with those produced by their parent campuses. The average effectiveness of Boston’s charter middle school sector increased after the reform despite a doubling of charter market share. An exploration of mechanisms shows that Boston charter schools compress the distribution of teacher effectiveness and may reduce the returns to teacher experience, suggesting the highly standardized practices in place at charter schools may facilitate replicability. (JEL H75, I21, I28)

Breaking Barriers: District and School Administrators Engaging Family, and Community as a Key Determinant of Student Success

This qualitative case study explored administrators’ perceptions of family and community engagement activities that enhanced student well-being and ultimately impacted academic achievement in one urban district. Template analysis of 11 semistructured interviews and observation notes employed the positive psychology well-being theoretical construct, PERMA(H). Illuminated was the administrations’ focused attention to student attendance, engagement, and well-being preceded academic achievement gains. The narratives addressing identified non-academic barriers informed six key findings. The findings are supported by 19 specific administrator activities that could be useful for other urban administrators desiring to address non-academic barriers to improve academic achievement.