Teachers' Understanding of and Concerns about Mathematical Modeling in the Common Core Standards

Educational reform is most likely to be successful when teachers are knowledgeable about the intended reform, and when their concerns about the reform are understood and addressed. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is an effort to establish a set of nationwide expectations for students and teachers. This study examined teacher understanding of and concerns about mathematical modeling---one of the eight mathematical practice standards in the CCSS. A researcher-developed survey was used combining items from an instrument assessing teachers' understanding of the CCSS with an instrument measuring teacher concerns about curriculum reform. Items specific to mathematical modeling, as well as demographic and open-ended questions, were used to augment these items. Data were collected from 364 teachers in grades K through 12 in eight California school districts.;Statistical analysis was used to determine relationships between key variables and teacher concerns and factors that contribute to level of teacher understanding. Interviews of selected participants were conducted to augment quantitative data. Statistical analyses employed included descriptive statistics to determine teachers' understanding of mathematical modeling and willingness to change practice, logistic regression to determine which variables were significant predictors of understanding and to predict group membership regarding understanding of modeling, and factor analysis to determine variables related to teacher concerns about modeling. Multiple regressions were run using resulting factors to determine variables contributing to understanding of modeling. Path analysis was conducted to determine variables that contributed to implementation of modeling in the classroom.;Results of the survey and interviews demonstrate that most teachers surveyed understand mathematical modeling and are willing to change their practice to include modeling. The Stages of Concern instrument demonstrated that, at this early stage of CCSS implementation, teachers express, primarily, concerns about "self," including time, available materials, and professional development. Further analysis demonstrates that professional development is a key variable in successful transition to the CCSS. Analysis of the results of the survey, as well as the interviews with selected teachers, produced implications for professional development in the transition to the CCSS.