Maine's Impact Study of Technology in Mathematics (MISTM) was a federally funded collaboration among the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) through the Maine Department of Education (DOE), Maine Education Policy Research Institute (MEPRI) and Education Development Center (EDC) in Newton, MA designed to examine the influence of a technology-infused professional development program for 7th and 8th grade mathematics teachers on the mathematics achievement of rural middle school students in technology-rich classrooms.

The core goal of the professional development program was to enable grade 7 and 8 teachers and their students in low-performing rural schools to take full advantage of universal laptop availability to enhance mathematics teaching and learning and improve student achievement in mathematics. The professional development was multi-faceted and is designed to deepen teachers’ understandings of the relevant mathematics, strengthen their pedagogical practices, and enable them to effectively use technology to enhance mathematics teaching and learning. The program incorporated interactive technology tools, including online applets, to support middle school mathematics instruction, and prepare teachers to integrate these tools into the curriculum to help students attain the Maine Learning Results standards.

The primary standards and indicators that were targeted in the intervention were from Cluster 1 and 3 of the Maine Learning Results. These were:

Cluster 1 – Number & Operations
Content Standard A: Students will understand and demonstrate a sense of what numbers mean and how they are used. Indicator A1: Use numbers in a variety of equivalent and interchangeable forms (fraction, decimal, percent, exponential, & scientific notation)
Cluster 3 – Patterns, Relations, Functions
Content Standard G: Students will understand that mathematics is the science of patterns, relationships, and functions. G1: Describe and represent relationships with tables, graphs, and equations.

Key Principles of the Professional Development

The content and structure of the professional development program incorporated key principles for effective professional development as informed by careful examination of major research studies and syntheses of reports from experts in the fields of mathematics curriculum and instruction, professional development, and instructional technology. Researchers have established a number of key principles for effective professional development programs for K-12 educators.

In a summary of these principles, Sparks and Hirsh (1997) describe a “paradigm shift” in staff development, away from one-day in-service presentations to professional development as an integral, ongoing part of teachers’ lives, focused on improving student learning outcomes, based on inquiry into teaching and learning, and built upon interactions within professional learning communities. Major research studies and syntheses by Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin (1995); Ball & Cohen (1999); Borasi & Fonzi (2002); Shulman (1987); Stigler & Stevenson (1991); Sparks & Hirsch (1997); National Staff Development Council (2001); National Foundation for the Improvement of Education (1996) and others consistently agree that professional development is most effective when it:

focuses on the curriculum standards for students and the alignment of teaching, curriculum, and assessment with those standards;
fosters a deepening of subject-matter knowledge, a greater understanding of learning, and a greater appreciation of students' needs;
centers around the critical activities of teaching and learning—planning lessons, evaluating student work, developing curriculum, improving classroom practices, and increasing student learning rather than in abstractions and generalities;
builds on investigations of practice through cases that involve specific problems of practice, questions, analysis, reflection, and substantial professional discourse;
values and cultivates a culture of collegiality, involving knowledge, and experience-sharing among educators;
is sustained, intensive, and continuously woven into the everyday fabric of the teaching profession, through modeling, coaching, and collaborations; and,
begins with the mathematics content goals and effective teaching methods rather than with the technology (when technology is employed).

In addition, research conducted within technology rich environments also indicates that sustained professional development is essential and that technology tools are necessary but not sufficient ingredients in creating changes in teaching practices that result in improved student performance (Kleiman, 2000; Sandholtz, Ringstaff & Dwyer, 1997; Grant, 1998).

The MISTM professional development intervention was a sustained, two year effort that incorporated these key principles through a multi-faceted design that included:

face-to-face, hands-on workshops;
online coursework and support;
within and among school peer coaching, with ongoing support from other teachers and project staff; and
site visits for observation, feedback and capacity building.

The two-year effort began with the identification and selection of online mathematics tools and resources that met specific criteria for alignment with the goals and philosophy of the project, high quality mathematics teaching and learning, and built upon the advantages that a technology intensive environment provides. Next, participating teachers were selected and brought together for face-to-face activities that included immersion experiences in which teachers engaged with the technology, as learners, in the context of mathematics content. Content knowledge, questioning, and classroom management were all integrated into the experiences. During this first two-day, face-to-face experience, teachers also had opportunities to explore and critique the online resources, study targeted content, learn about and engage with the online learning environment, gain technical skills relating to the use and management of resources, and participate in the initial aspects of technology integrated lesson planning.

Technical Requirements to Use this MISTM CD

This CD contains video and other multimedia content, and links to several resources on the Internet.
To view all these materials, you need:

A live Internet connection
A set of plug-ins that expand your browser's capability.
See the plug-ins page for more information.