Southern Virginia Elementary Mathematics Coalition, 2015-2018

SEG evaluated this mathematics professional development initiative coordinated by the College of William & Mary in partnership with the Virginia Mathematics and Science Coalition and Longwood University and serving five school districts. The individualized professional development in mathematics content, pedagogy, and assessment included in-school professional development, mathematics coaching, and development of school mathematics leadership teams, and focused on the identified needs in each building. The evaluation study assessed the project’s fidelity of implementation, conducted formative evaluation activities that provided information to guide program improvement, and conducted summative evaluation activities to assess project outcomes. Methods included bi-annual meetings with the project staff, focus group discussions with selected principals and Mathematics Leadership Team members, post-course/event feedback surveys, an academic year online survey of teachers, pre-/post-assessment of teachers’ knowledge of mathematical pedagogy, and analyses of student mathematical performance on standardized tests. Project funding was provided through the Mathematics & Science Partnerships program administered by the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV). 

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College of William & Mary MSP Tidewater Team, 2013-2018

This mathematics professional development project led by Longwood University and the College of William and Mary provides multiple graduate courses over the 3-year period to members of a Mathematics Leadership Team that has been formed in each participating school. School staff engage in approximately seven days of professional learning across each year.  During the academic year, a mathematics educator will provide on-site coaching, facilitation with assessment, and support as dictated by the needs of the individual buildings. The evaluation design utilizes a pre-post assessment of the Learning Evaluation of the College of William & Mary MSP Tidewater TeMathematics for Teaching assessments to assess for change in teachers' content knowledge; and a comparison group design for understanding the impact of the program on students' achievement in mathematics using school-level mathematics SOL test scores. The comparison schools were identified and matched to participating schools using criteria including baseline mathematics SOL scores, free and reduced lunch percentage (as proxy indicator for poverty), and NCES urbanicity indicator. Preference was given to identifying comparison schools within the same school division. The Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) model is used for data analysis.  Project funding was provided through the Mathematics & Science Partnerships program administered by the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV). 

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