The Effects of Professional Development on Elementary Students’ Mathematics Achievement

Abstract

This paper describes the effects of a professional development (PD) program – Developing Mathematical Thinking –on student achievement. Six Title I elementary schools with similar demographics, within one school district, werechosen to participate as either a treatment or comparison school. Three schools were chosen to participate inprofessional development that incorporates effective PD recommendations. All the teachers had to participate in allaspects of the PD, thereby eliminating potential self-selection bias. Using the state standardized achievement test as thebefore and after measure, results suggest improved student performance after professional development wasimplemented over a two year period.