Improving Elementary School Mathematics Instruction with Principal Coaching and Peer Collaboration: A Pilot Experimental Study
Abstract
Teacher quality accounts for as much as 30% of the variation for in-school factors that influence student achievement. Previous studies have found no significant relationship between teachers’ education, experience, or certification and student outcomes. Therefore, researchers must shift the focus to specific, high-leverage classroom practices and high-impact interactions between teachers and students as the source of student achievement. This pilot experimental study explored the extent to which teachers’ instructional skills improved after participating in an intensive principal coaching-based evaluation cycle, augmented by peer interaction and peer coaching through teacher study groups. The Instructional Quality Assessment measured the quality of mathematics instruction in relation to inquiry-oriented instruction. The results support the research hypothesis that the experimental group would show greater improvement to their teaching. Teachers in the experimental group showed an overall mean pre-test score of 16.83 and a mean post-test score of 24.67. Pairwise comparisons of marginal means revealed that the intervention group scored an average of 12.1 points higher on post-test scores when controlling for pre-test scores.
Subject Area
Educational leadership|Educational administration|Educational evaluation|Elementary education|Mathematics education
Recommended Citation
Melnyk, Colleen, "Improving Elementary School Mathematics Instruction with Principal Coaching and Peer Collaboration: A Pilot Experimental Study" (2020). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI27740625.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI27740625
