A study of the relationship between elementary teacher and principal professional development and student mathematics achievement

Professional development has become a focal point in educational reform initiatives. Recently, researchers started examining the relationship between teacher participation in professional development and student achievement. The literature suggests that the relationship between teacher participation and student achievement is indirect at best. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between the number of hours of teacher and principal participation in mathematics-related professional development activities sponsored by the South Carolina Statewide Systemic Initiative (SCSSI) and elementary student achievement in mathematics as measured by the 1999 Palmetto Achievement Challenge Test (PACT). The researcher used the number of hours that teachers and principals in South Carolina elementary schools with a grade configuration of three to five participated in mathematics-related professional development activities and mathematics mean scale scores on the 1999 PACT to compute bivariate correlations. Analysis of the data revealed weak, negative linear relationships between teacher and principal professional development and student mathematics achievement. Four positive, but weak, linear relationships between teacher participation in selected professional development activities and student mathematics achievement were revealed. However, when socioeconomic status (SES), measured by the percentage of students per school that qualified for Free or Reduced Lunch, was held constant, the direction of three of these relationships changed to negative. Conversely, the direction of two relationships between teacher participation in selected mathematics-related professional development activities and student achievement in mathematics changed from negative on the zero-order correlation to positive after adjusting for SES. Changes in the direction of these relationships suggest that SES is an important confounding variable.