| The study examined the effects of a specialized mathematics professional development program on teacher instructional behaviors and student success. The Alliance for the Improvement of Mathematics Skills PreK-16 (AIMS) is a regional partnership of Del Mar Community College, Texas A&M University-Kingsville, and nine independent school districts located in South Texas. Awarded four million dollars over five years, the goal of the AIMS Grant is to prepare all students for college level mathematics courses by graduation from high school through vertical alignment, professional development, a challenging curriculum, the use of information technology, and research on strategies and interventions. The study examined the impact of the AIMS Grant specialized mathematics professional development for teachers on instructional strategies and student success.; The study population included pre-kindergarten through high school mathematics teachers and students from the nine AIMS school districts located on the South Texas coast. Data for the study, including observation data, titles of specialized mathematics professional development offered to AIMS grant participating districts, hours of participation by teacher in professional development, and TAKS scores for the years 2002, 2003, and 2004, were collected from the AIMS Grant files. All TAKS scores were compared at the panel recommendation level.; Data, including observation data, individual teacher professional development hours, and 2002, 2003, and 2004 TAKS scores, were quantitatively evaluated. Changes in teacher instructional strategies were evaluated using a repeated-measures analysis of variance. Correlation coefficients were computed to determine if significant relationships exist between professional development hours and the level of complexity at which the teacher and students were engaged in the classroom. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was conducted to detect differences in cognitive levels during the first and last classroom observations. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was also utilized to detect differences between the three years of professional development on students' TAKS scores. All analyses were significant at the .05 level. |
