Investigating relationships between teaching behaviors and pupil outcomes

This study revisits a familiar question that has received renewed attention in recent years with the passage of No Child Left Behind: Does teacher education make a difference? The study was based on previous research by using a presage-process-product design---a design that enables the examination of relationships between and among teachers' characteristics, teaching, and pupil outcomes in an experimental context. Students who received formal teacher preparation from the Curry School of Education and students from the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Virginia who had not received formal teacher training were the participants. The study occurred during the normal mathematics block of 365 pupils within the classrooms of 12 Albemarle County mathematics teachers. The teaching intervention consisted of four daily sessions (45 minutes each) instructing sixth- and seventh-graders. Each University of Virginia student was matched with a colleague based on major (one Curry student with one Arts and Sciences student) and assigned to teach a group of 4--13 randomly assigned pupils. Over four class sessions, the instruction focused on mathematical concepts of data representation and interpretation.; The Student Reflection Scales (SRS) and Teaching Performance Record (TPR) were used to measure pupil outcomes and teaching behaviors. The SRS, a self-report, eight-question inventory measured pupil engagement, pupil motivation to learn, and pupil engagement. The TPR was used to measure teaching behaviors and pupil attention in classrooms. The TPR is a method of recording (but not evaluating) teacher performance by indicating the contextual, behavioral, and pre-active items observed.; The teaching practices of each University of Virginia student were videotaped during one of their interventions. The videotape of the lesson was scored by two independent observers using the TPR. At the conclusion of each teaching session every pupil completed the SRS.; The results indicate that individuals with educational training exhibit more behaviors that influence pupil engagement, pupil motivation to learn, and pupil attention. The results also suggest that trained teachers create more activities and lessons that are appropriately challenging for middle-school pupils.