Date of Conferral

2020

Degree

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

School

Education

Advisor

Dr. Carol Todd

Abstract

Many school districts acknowledge professional development (PD) as an approach that can change teaching practices and improve student achievement. Because elementary teachers often struggle to provide instruction for mathematical proficiency, the purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the strength of the relationships among teacher participation in math PD courses, Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) implementation scores, and student achievement. The theoretical framework for the study is based on Guskey’s model of teacher change. The research questions pertained to the strength of the relationship between the following pairs of variables: (a) teacher participation in math PD and student achievement; (b) teacher participation in math PD and T-TESS implementation scores, and (c) T-TESS implementation scores a and student achievement. Pearson’s product moment correlations were used to quantify the strength of the association between each pair of variables. The study included a sample of 34 third-grade teachers who had math PD participation hours, student scores from the state math assessment, and T-TESS implementation scores from the teacher appraisal instrument. The results of the study revealed no statistically significant relationships between the variables. Therefore, further research is required to investigate why teacher participation in PD demonstrated non-significant relationships among the variables. The policy recommendation developed following the completion of the study is intended to help school districts design effective PD programs. This study can effect positive social change with the implementation of effective PD methods to improve student achievement in mathematics.

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