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About our measures |
We design surveys that measure teachers' knowledge for
teaching mathematics in several content areas and teaching domains.
The measures are unusual, for they are not like most certification
or subject matter assessments. Instead, we strive to situate our
questions in common problems that arise in the course of teaching
mathematics to students. A teacher may be required to provide an
explanation to a mathematical rule or procedure, examine an unusual
method for solving a problem, or decide which of several definitions
is accurate and usable with students at the grade level she teaches.
Through identifying and writing problems that draw upon the special
mathematical knowledge used in classrooms, we hope to provide
evidence for the highly professional nature of teachers' work.
These measures have each been piloted with the help of over
2000 teachers, yielding information about reliability and item
characteristics. They are suitable for use in evaluations of
content-focused professional development, studies examining teacher
learning from pre-service coursework, new curriculum materials, or
experience, and projects exploring the contribution of teacher
knowledge to student achievement. Users may elect to use forms that
have already been piloted and analyzed, or construct their own from
our item pool.
The links here describe our study's history
and sponsorship, offer more specifics on the content and tasks
measured, provide sample items, and present technical details about
specific instruments. |
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Related links: |
History and
sponsorship |
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Sample
items (PDF) |
Summary
of technical information (PDF) |
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