Instructional attitudes and planning practices of two -year college mathematics instructors and their relationship to the American Mathematical Association of Two -Year Colleges instructional standards

Three research questions guided my investigation of the instructional attitudes and planning practices of two-year college mathematics instructors: (1) What alignment exists between two-year college mathematics teachers' educational beliefs about mathematics instruction and the instructional standards published by the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges in Crossroads? (RQ1); (2) What are the components that characterize the instructional planning of two-year college mathematics teachers? (RQ2); (3) What relationship exists between the alignment of two-year college mathematics teachers' educational beliefs about mathematics instruction with Crossroads (RQ1) and the teachers' instructional planning practices (RQ2)?;I developed and administered the Attitude Alignment with Crossroads (AAC) survey to investigate the alignment of the educational beliefs of thirty-one two-year college mathematics instructors with Crossroads (R1). To investigate the instructional planning practices of two-year college mathematics teachers (RQ2), I interviewed eight participants about their planning practices and collected their written lesson plans. The survey results, interview transcripts, and written lesson plans were analyzed to explore the existence of relationships between the alignment of two-year college mathematics teachers' educational beliefs about mathematics instruction with Crossroads and the teachers' instructional planning practices (RQ3).;The two-year college teachers' attitudes about teaching mathematics ranged from "somewhat disagreeing" to "mostly agreeing" with the views espoused in Crossroads varying sometimes considerably across the nineteen specific standards. Implications for needed changes in the Crossroads document are discussed in the context of the upcoming revision of these standards. No significant differences in participants' attitudes were found based on gender, length of teaching experience, or status as either full-time or part-time instructors. I found the textbook plays a critical role in the instructional planning process of two-year college mathematics instructors. The reflection of traditional teaching methods in the teachers' plans despite their attitude agreement with reform ideals lends further support for Stark's (2000) Contextual Filters Model of Course Planning.