A study of South Carolina high school mathematics departments' support for teachers' professional development and their influence on student achievement

This exploratory study examined how South Carolina high school mathematics departments support teachers' professional development and whether there was a relationship between departments' support of teachers' professional development and student achievement in mathematics. A survey of high school mathematics department chairpersons was developed to determine the department-level support for teachers' professional development in three categories: department-level structure, department-level supervision, and department-level professional development. The survey was administered to all South Carolina public high schools with a response rate of 83%. Measures of students' mathematics achievement included percent of students meeting South Carolina High School Assessment Program requirements, number of students who took the SAT I Reasoning Test as a percent of the senior class enrollment, number of students who took Advanced Placement mathematics classes as a percent of senior class enrollment, percent of graduates enrolled in higher education (two-year and four-year colleges/universities), and a composite measure of the four aforementioned indicators.;Descriptive statistics obtained from the survey of department chairpersons indicated that a typical South Carolina high school mathematics department did not facilitate the interaction among its teachers in building collegial relationships through departmental structure, provided various degrees of departmental supervision, and provided department-level professional development that centered on planning for instructional improvement rather than focusing on increasing teachers' professional knowledge to implement instructional improvement in their classrooms. Correlational analyses indicated no relationship existed between mathematics department-level professional development for teachers and measures of students' mathematics achievement.