International Context
Internationally, the American education system has seriously underperformed other comparable countries. According to TIMSS, America ranks at #11 for 4th grade student performance and #8 for 8th grade student performance of all countries that participated in TIMSS and TIMSS Advanced. While scores have shown long term improvement over the last twenty years, scores plateaued heavily during No Child Left Behind and have not measurably improved from 2011. As Darling-Hammond also illustrates, countries that currently outperform America have varying styles of education. This suggest there are many factors such as culture and economy that go well beyond the walls of the classroom. Thus, non-academic factors, such as a growth mindset, merit exploration. Another point of interest from the TIMSS study is that the bottom 25% of students are the ones who are experiencing the most drop off in their scores. The upper 25% has continued to grow steadily to preserve the overall average, but the inequity in mathematics education is apparent. National Context National data supports the findings of TIMSS. In fact, NAEP shows scores actually dropped between 2013 and 2015. The scores are higher than in 1990, but have not been measurably improving yet with the implementation of Common Core. NAEP data is also consistent with the data from TIMSS showing that the bottom 25% of students are falling off rather than improving and that minorities continue to struggle in the American education system. Boaler and Sengupta-Irving (2016) found that low achieving students in math and science tend to wind up in low pay and skills oriented jobs. The development of Common Core began in 2009 as an equity issue. States all had varying standards and varying definitions of proficiency. This was one of the driving forces behind the development of the Common Core State Standards which would begin to be ratified and adopted starting in 2011. The Common Core standards put a strong emphasis on deep, conceptual learning and less emphasis on formulaic thinking and skills. This complements the problem solving structure of PrBL. The grit developed from a growth mindset also enables students to go deeper with concepts and curriculum. In 2001, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) was formed. P21 is an organization focused on promoting the 4 C’s, Life and Career Skills, and Technology Skills for students. This framework for students also synergizes well with PrBL and a growth mindset. PrBL frequently uses technology to enable more authentic problems, relies on students to use agency and collaboration to tackle larger tasks, and introduces or prepares students for future opportunities in college and career. State Context In California specifically, the data is less optimistic. In mathematics, for grades 6-8 in 2016, less than 40% of students meet or exceed academic standards. More than 25% in each grade level fall into the Standard Not Met band. When examining the CAASPP’s three mathematical claims, the outlook is worse. In Concepts and Procedures, more than 75% of students between grades 6-8 are Near or Below Standard. In Problem Solving and Modeling & Data Analysis, 80% of students between grades 6-8 are Near or Below Standard. Finally, Communicating Reasoning also has 80% or more students between grades 6-8 at Near or Below Standard. While the data is not acceptable in any category, Problem Solving and Communicating Reasoning are the worst for students between grades 6-8. Drilling down into at-risk minorities makes the data spread even less favourable. Problem-Based Learning A study in Problem-Based Learning (PrBL) in Mathematics may provide information toward improving student performance. In the study, 271 students were given several PrBL units, to see if this instructional mode would reveal any previously unidentified academic potential. Findings from the study suggest that well-designed PrBL can reveal unseen potential in students. (Gallagher, 2013). This potentially can address the disparity of the bottom 25% as noted in TIMSS and NAEP. PrBL also breaks away from more traditional forms of instructions and instead focuses on open ended problem solving. This lines up with the CAASPP’s increased focus on claims and reasoning. Boaler and Sengupta-Irving (2016) also found that increasing student agency and collaboration in heterogeneous groups improved engagement and achievement in mathematics with middle school students. The researchers also noted that students responded with more enjoyment to mathematics when they were given responsibility and collaborative opportunities. Mindset Self-concept is another factor that studies have shown to impact student achievement. Pinxten, Marsh, De Frain,Van Den Noortgate, Van Damme (2013) found that positive self-beliefs about math competencies had a positive effect on math achievement and a negative effect on perceived effort expenditure. Math enjoyment was also found to have a smaller positive effect on math achievement.The study focused on over 4,000 students between third and seventh grade. This further emphasizes the need not only for a pedagogical shift, but a mindset shift in education. Parker, Marsh, Ciarroch, Marshall, & Abduljabbar (2013) found in a longitudinal study of Australian youth that self-efficacy in math served as in indicator for future achievement. Specifically, math self-efficacy could be a strong predictor for university and post-graduate studies entry in STEM fields. This directly speaks to the long term importance of improving math self-efficacy. Growth mindset can be referred to as a specific type of self-concept. Dweck, in a 2014 continuation of her original work on growth mindset, found that high school students with a growth mindset were more likely to recover from receiving poor grades. Dweck also found that growth mindset predicted higher academic achievement via grades and SAT scores. This improvement was attributed to growth mindset students’ use of deeper learning strategies. Not only that, but girls and minorities seem to benefit more from a growth mindset, which helps level the playing field that has been skewed against them for decades. (Dweck, 2008). Claro et al. (2016) found that growth mindset also can reduce the negative academic impact of poverty on students in education. In the study, researchers also ran a reverse causation and found that growth mindset is not just apparent in successful students. In short, growth mindset causing success is not due to confirmation bias of successful students. Research by Yeager et al. (2012) has also shown that this growth mindset can lead to greater resiliency when facing mathematical challenges and, thus, can lead to higher rates of course completion. Beyond just improving performance on international testing metrics, growth mindset can create long term impacts by getting students farther in education. Local Context and Response The study district has slightly more favorable data than the state averages, with just over 30% of students in the Standard Met or Standard Exceeding Band in the Mathematics domain. study school has slightly more favorable data than the rest of study district, but not enough to be significant. However, study district still has more than 50% in the Nearly Met or Not Met band, so there is still a problem to address. Students need to continue to improve in their their ability to Problem Solve and Communicate Reasoning. study district has partnered with the New Tech Network to further implement 21st Century Skills in support of the Common Core. The study school is a Project Based Learning and Problem Based Learning School. Teachers have been to trainings and conferences provided by the New Tech Network and worked with consultants to develop authentic and rigorous PBL and PrBL units. The study school is currently examining how to engage students in cognitively complex tasks via training on Marzano’s The Highly Engaged Classroom. In sixth grade, all students complete projects to inform them about growth mindsets and to begin to develop them. All intervention classes have growth mindset components to their curriculum. Developing a growth mindset is a lifelong task, so growth mindset development needs to be a focus in the classroom at all stages of a student’s education. Problem Based Learning in Mathematics need to continue to develop. In mathematics, students need to learn how to think and write like mathematicians, improve in Problem Solving and Communicating Reasoning. Developing a growth mindset is a lifelong task, so growth mindset development needs to be a focus in the classroom at all stages of a student’s education. Problem Based Learning in Mathematics need to continue to develop. In mathematics, students need to learn how to think and write like mathematicians, improve in Problem Solving and Communicating Reasoning. Completing this Literature Review and Introduction had a dramatic impact on the direction of my paper. Initially, I had wanted to focus on standardized testing because it was a reliable and unbiased measure, at least in respect to me as a researcher. However, this lit review showed me that was a pretty well drawn out area of research and my particular population did not add much of significance. However, this prompted me to look beyond standardized testing into Claims data. This gave me a new direction. Students nationwide struggle in demonstrating their reasoning and problem solving. This lines up well with the PrBL at my school site and my personal desire to instill a growth mindset in students. Growth mindsets can build confidence and efficacy, which research shows are good predictors for future academic success. This also gave me direction on how to properly introduce a growth mindset. It has become a buzzword in education. So much so that Dweck has written several editorials about the dangers of the growth mindset movement she pioneered. Being well informed and prepared to implement my research question properly gives my study a stronger chance to make an impact on my students!
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