| The primary purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between mathematics teacher collaboration and the mathematics achievement of students at the middle school level in selected schools in Washington state. The study combined psychometric, causal comparative (analysis of variance), and predictive (multiple regression) analyses. Washington state middle school mathematics teachers (N = 353) participated in the study.;First, the reliability and factorial validity of a set of teacher response scales were reexamined psychometrically to establish a teacher collaboration construct (Mathematics Staff Interactions Questionnaire [MSIQ]). Second, the mathematics achievement of students in schools where teachers were collaborative was compared with the achievement of students in schools where teachers were isolated or moderately isolated. Finally, the relative importance of a school's level of mathematics teacher collaboration was compared with socioeconomic status (SES) as a predictor of student mathematics achievement.;Development of the MSIQ included a careful item analysis and review of the pilot study's results. After data collection, a thorough psychometric analysis of the MSIQ, including reliability and factorial validity of the questionnaire, was accomplished. The coefficient alpha for the MSIQ was high for an attitudinal survey (r = .91). A principal components analysis of the MSIQ was accomplished with both varimax and direct oblimin procedures. The orthogonal, varimax rotation produced the best simple structure and yielded two factors: collaborative professional culture and collegial atmosphere.;Based on mathematics teachers' quantified collaboration levels, schools were compared on the mathematics portions of four separate tests: Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) and Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) in 2000 and 2001. In all cases, the mathematics teacher collaboration level was not a significant (p < .05) factor in student achievement. Multiple linear regression was used to determine if a school's total collaboration score was a significant predictor of student performance on the WASL or ITBS when compared with SES. In all cases, SES proved a significant predictor of student achievement, while teacher collaboration did not.;These results appeared to contradict the findings of earlier research in Washington state. However, a careful analysis of all data collected suggested a more complex explanation. |
