Math and Science Partnership Motivation Assessment Program (MSP-MAP) II: Teacher Motivation in Professional Development

A Collaboration Between UC Irvine and the University of Michigan
Funded by the National Science Foundation

Investigator: AnneMarie Conley, Co-PI

Rationale of the Study

The National Science Foundation has developed the Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program in response to a growing national concern - the educational performance of U.S. children in mathematics and science. Funded projects focus largely on professional development interventions with teachers, designed to increase teacher content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, and assuming that the resulting changes in instructional practices will boost student learning and performance.

There is considerable consensus (although not necessarily empirical support) for the features of PD programs that are necessary and sufficient for their success. Even if those general principles are known, however, it remains necessary to determine their impact across a broad range of conditions. In determining the success of PD programs, a recent review of research and evaluation designs stressed the need to assess proximal outcomes of PD, most notably the changes in teacher knowledge and teacher practices that mediate the effects of interventions on achievement.

In addition to the focus on teacher knowledge and practices, there are also urgent calls to examine the role of teacher motivation in PD. Motivational concerns, while often alluded to in passing (e.g., with regard to participation incentives or teacher confidence), remain a critical yet understudied component of teacher PD interventions.

Motivation factors can influence the likelihood that teachers will opt to participate in PD. Differential rates of participation- which results in the potential for selection bias-pose major problems for evaluation, which must take the level of involvement (or "dosage") into consideration when determining the effects of PD. Even for teachers who participate, the extent of their participation can moderate the degree to which teachers will profit from that experience.

PD can influence motivation for teaching math and science in general and for attempting new instructional practices (e.g., reform math and problem-based science) that incur costs and risks as well as benefits and challenges.

Research

MSP-MAP II will directly support the work of MSPs with methodologically rigorous cross-site studies of teacher motivation among more than 2,000 teachers at various stages of professional development and the influence of this professional development motivation on student achievement. 

What distinguishes this work is its comprehensive application of contemporary motivation theory and research. These approaches include expectancy-value, achievement goals, and interest theories, and new ways to think about emotion and affect. These conceptual frameworks offer a range of constructs and their assessment that are particularly relevant for PD in math and science.

Dr. AnneMarie Conley, Co-PI and the lead researcher at UC Irvine, will develop and maintain project databases, design and direct data collection, supervise research assistants, and conduct data analysis and dissemination.

Goals

• Develop a knowledge base of theory, research, and assessment of teacher motivation and the PD process that MSPs can use in the design and evaluation of their interventions
• Develop and make available a suite of reliable motivation-related assessment tools, validated with teacher populations and in PD contexts, for MSPs to include for purposes of PD design and formative and summative evaluation
• Collaborate with MSPs to test and refine features of a proposed model of motivation and teacher PD with a goal of explaining impacts of MSP activities, and PD more broadly, on teacher learning and student achievement
• Facilitate the incorporation of the model and motivation-related PD assessment tools into existing and future MSP logic models and evaluation designs
• Disseminate the motivation and PD model and assessment tools to the broader teaching and research community