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TEACHER PEER COACHING IN GRADE 3 AND 6

MATHEMATICS

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Vol.2-616 PME-NA 2006 Proceedings

TEACHER PEER COACHING IN GRADE 3 AND 6 MATHEMATICS

Catherine D. Bruce John Ross

Trent University OISE/UT
cathybruce@trentu.ca jross@oise.utoronto.ca

This study reports the results of research on the effects of peer coaching on two dimensions
closely linked to student achievement: teachers instructional practice and teacher beliefs about
their capacity to impact student achievement. The study tracked 12 grade 3 and 6 teachers as
they participated in a professional development program over a six-month period. The mode of
in-service delivery consisted of peer coaching, workshops on standards-based teaching, and self-
assessment. The study found that 1) teachers implemented peer coaching largely as intended. 2)
They enacted key elements of standards-based mathematics teaching in their own classrooms.3)
Teachers changed their practice in intended directions with regard to student-student interaction
and tasks assigned to students.4) Effects on teacher practice can be attributed to a combination
of peer coaching with content specific in-service sessions.

Research Objectives
The focus of this study was to measure the effects of peer coaching and related in-service on
grade 3 and 6 teachers instructional practice and their beliefs about their instructional capacity
teaching mathematics.

Perspectives/Theoretical Framework
Our theory of teacher change (described in Ross & Bruce, in press) is based on a model of
teacher self-assessment developed within the broader framework of social cognition theory
(Bandura, 1997). In this conception, teacher willingness to experiment with instructional ideas,
particularly techniques that are difficult to implement, depends on teachers expectations about
their ability to bring about student learning; i.e., teacher efficacy. Of the four sources of teacher
efficacy information identified by Bandura (1997), the most powerful is mastery experience
teachers judgments about being successful in the classroom. The primary data for such self-
assessments are teacher perceptions of changes in student performance gleaned from student
utterances, work on classroom assignments, homework, and formal assessments.
Teachers who anticipate that they will be successful set higher goals for themselves and their
students. High expectations of success motivate classroom experimentation because teachers
anticipate they will be able to overcome obstacles and experience the benefits of innovations.
Teachers with high efficacy produce higher student achievement (Mascall, 2003; Muijs &
Reynolds, 2001; Ross, 1992; Ross & Cousins, 1993; Watson, 1991), provided that teachers have
access to powerful innovations. Teacher efficacy contributes to achievement because high
efficacy teachers: use classroom management strategies that stimulate student autonomy; attend
to the needs of low ability students; and, positively influence students perceptions of their
abilities (evidence reviewed in Ross, 1998).

Peer Coaching
Norms of privatized practice limit peer opportunities for influencing teacher self-
assessments. Isolation can be overcome by creating professional school communities with shared
values, collaborative decision making, and reflective dialogue (Louis & Marks, 1998). A
_____________________________
Alatorre, S., Cortina, J.L., Siz, M., and Mndez, A.(Eds) (2006). Proceedings of the 28th annual meeting of the
North American Chapter of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education. Mrida, Mxico:
Universidad Pedaggica Nacional.
Teacher education Inservice/Professional Development Vol.2-617

structured approach for building such a community is peer coaching where pairs of teachers of
similar experience and competence observe each other teach, negotiate improvement goals,
develop strategies to implement goals, observe the revised teaching, and provide one another
with feedback. Coaching has reported positive effects when the appropriate climate is developed
(McLymont & da Costa, 1998). In a review of peer coaching literature, Greene (2004) found that
teachers in peer coaching programs implemented new instructional strategies more than control
group teachers, used the new strategies in more appropriate ways, had longer term retention of
new strategies, and understood the purposes of instruction. Peer coaching increases teacher
implementation of reform-based teaching practices and contributes to increases in teacher
efficacy (Kohler, Ezell, & Paluselli, 1999; Licklider, 1995; Wineburg, 1995).
Peer input can influence teacher self-assessments in multiple ways. For example, peers can
influence self-observations by directing teacher attention to particular dimensions of practice.
Peer feedback can also influence teacher judgments about the degree of their goal attainment.
Further, peers can influence teacher practice by suggesting and implementing specific strategies
together. These opportunities for positive peer influences on teacher self-assessment involve
recognizing teaching success (valid mastery experiences). Peers also have opportunities to
influence teacher efficacy through three other sources of efficacy information proposed by
Bandura (1997): social persuasion (persuading colleagues that they are capable of performing a
task), vicarious experience (observing successful performances of a similarly capable teacher
peer), and physiological and emotional cues (increasing positive feelings arising from teaching
and connecting them to teaching ability or reducing negative feelings arising from teaching
experiences).
Peer coaching is not universally successful however. For example, Perkins (1998) found that
teachers had difficulty with communication skills when interacting with their peers in coaching
settings. They asked few open-ended questions, paraphrased infrequently, and used limited
facilitative probes. Busher (1994) reported a study in which teachers were randomly assigned to
peer coaching and control groups. Training consisted of sessions on supportive skills,
questioning, nonverbal communication, modes of learning and thinking skills. The treatment had
no effect on instructional practice, most likely because there was no attempt to provide teachers
with specific instructional skills. These findings suggest that an effective peer coaching program
needs to combine training of the peer coaching process with training in curricular content.

Integration of in-service on peer coaching and mathematics instructional training

In this study, a four-session in-service series was designed to heighten and direct peer
influences on instructional decisions with the goal of increasing teachers implementation of
standards-based mathematics teaching and enhancing their perceptions of their ability to enhance
learning using a reform curriculum. The key challenges were reducing teacher isolation to make
peer influence accessible (through peer coaching opportunities) and providing teachers with the
conceptual and strategic tools to move toward mathematics reform implementation.
The in-service brought peers together and provided strategic tools to enable teachers to move
toward a more constructive approach to mathematics teaching. The central tool was a rubric for
mathematics teaching that focused teachers peer observations and their improvement goals on
dimensions of mathematics teaching of highest priority to subject experts. We developed, from a
research synthesis (Ross, McDougall, Hogaboam-Gray, 2002) and NCTM policy statements
(NCTM 1989; 1991; 2000), ten characteristics of standards-based mathematics teaching. The
rubric was constructed from observations and interviews with teachers who ranged from
Vol.2-618 PME-NA 2006 Proceedings

traditional to innovative (McDougall, Lawson, Ross, MacLellan, Kajander, Scane, 2000; Ross,
Hogaboam-Gray, McDougall, & Bruce, 2001; Ross, Hogaboam-Gray, & McDougall, 2003). For
each of the 10 dimensions, we identified four levels, arranged in order of increasing fidelity to
NCTM Standards. The validity of the hierarchy of levels was established by a panel of content
experts (Ross & McDougall, 2003) and by a series of studies that tested the validity of a self-
report survey and the related rubric (Ross et al., 2003).

Methods & Data Sources

The in-service program was based on the Professional Development Standards for
Elementary Mathematics (Hill, 2004): teachers constructed mathematical meaning by engaging
in tasks and content comparable to those undertaken by their students; the in-service focused on
classroom practice (e.g., teachers examined examples of student work); teachers worked
together, rather than individually, on in-service tasks; in-service presenters modeled the
recommended instructional practices; the in-service illustrated how students learn mathematics;
teachers participated in the design and delivery of the in-service. These standards directly
contribute to teacher learning (Brandes & Erickson, 1998; Garet, Porter, Desimone, Birman, &
Yoon, 2001; Loucks-Horsley & Matsumoto, 1999; Ross et al., 1998).
Participants were 12 grade 3-6 teachers reflecting a range of mathematics teaching from
traditional to reform. Four pairs were grade 3 teachers; two pairs were grade 6. All were
volunteers. Sources of data included:
(a) Teacher observations at the beginning and end of the project with regard to three sets of
teaching strategies that were the focus of the in-service: selection of mathematical tasks,
construction of mathematical knowledge, and support for student-student interaction. Five
observers were trained using the Classroom Observation Guide which provides observers with a
definition of the three dimensions of mathematics teaching and specific probes to guide the
observers collection of information. Observers recorded specific examples of teacher actions
relevant to each dimension. The observer training sessions emphasized the importance of
detailed descriptions of teacher practice, consistency in application of the observation template,
and collecting sufficient information to make a rubric placement decision on the four point scale.
(b) Teachers completed an online assessment at the beginning and the end of the study. The
assessment provided a global score representing commitment to standards-based teaching.
(c) Each teacher was observed by his/her peer on three occasions. Each pair compared peer
observations to self-perceptions, negotiated improvement goals, devised strategies to implement
goals, and provided feedback on instructional changes. Each teacher brought a summary of their
peer coaching experience to the following in-service.
(d) Each teacher pair was interviewed at the end of the study. The interview guide focused on
whether teachers perceived change to have occurred, the identification of specific examples of
teacher and student activity that illustrated changes in practice, and teacher theories about which
aspect(s) of the in-service contributed to the change. These interviews were transcribed verbatim.
(e) Three researchers recorded their observations of teacher responses to the in-service
sessions in field notes that were compiled immediately after each session.
Analysis was qualitative, relying primarily upon pattern matching (Mark et al., 2000).

Results and Conclusions

The coaching reports indicated that in virtually all pairs in each of the three sessions, teachers
observed their partner teaching mathematics; gave feedback to their partner on the lesson
Teacher education Inservice/Professional Development Vol.2-619

observed; obtained feedback from their partner on their own teaching; helped their partner set
mathematics teaching goals; and, were given help on goal setting from their peer.
The main finding of the study is that teachers moved their mathematics teaching toward
reform. The observational data summarized in Table 1 found that the 12 participants moved
toward a more constructivist approach in the support they gave for student-student interaction
(D8). In addition, teachers assignments of student tasks were more likely to include rich
problems that encouraged multiple solutions. Although there were no pretest to posttest changes
in construction of knowledge (D5) during observations, teacher reports of encouraging students
to construct their own meaning in mathematics class were clearly described in peer interviews.

Dimension of Mathematics Teaching Pretest Posttest

Mean SD Mean SD
D5: Construction of Knowledge 2.92 .76 2.96 .66
D4: Tasks: Multiple Solutions 2.75 .87 3.08 .82
D4: Tasks: Multiple Representations 2.46 .66 2.46 .72
D8: Student-Student Interaction: Explicit Instruction 2.33 .78 2.85 .82
D8: Student-Student Interaction: Task Assignment 2.79 .89 3.60 .84
D8: Student-Student Interaction: Communication 2.21 .94 2.70 1.25
Table 1 Pre and Post Teacher Ratings (N=12)
Teachers attributed the improvements in their practice to peer coaching and to the
information about mathematics teaching presented at the in-service sessions. Contrary to our
expectation, it was not an either-or situation in which one factor was clearly more powerful than
the other. The two core processes reinforced each other. Conceptually, 1) the peer coaching
process awakened in teachers the need for change; 2) the workshop presentations provided
explicit models of alternative practice; 3) the between session activities provided opportunities
for experimentation, and 4) the debriefing conversations provided opportunities for teachers to
establish ways to integrate new practices into their existing styles. These four stages correspond
to the model of professional reflection in Ross and Regan (1993a). They argued that teacher
change occurs through four processes embedded in professional reflection: 1) dissonance, 2)
synthesis, 3) experimentation, and 4) integration.
The second key finding of the study is that the in-service had positive effects on teacher
beliefs in their capacity as mathematics teachers. The initial response of some teachers to both
the peer coaching process and the workshop presentation was depressed confidence. By in-
service end most teachers reported that they felt more capable of teaching mathematics
conceptually. Teacher interpretations of their effectiveness were elevated through several
affirmations of their competence, such as recognizing that some of their existing practices were
similar to those recommended by presenters, by receiving positive feedback from their partners,
and by acquiring and successfully using new instructional strategies in their own classrooms.
In some instances peer coaching was more successful than previously attempted strategies for
dissemination of teaching ideas. Jill reported that prior to the coaching session she had been
trying for some time to persuade her partner, Janice, to adopt a specific strategy for mental
mathematics that worked really well in Jills class [Int-Jill]. It was only when Janice saw the
method in action in Jills class during the peer coaching session that she decided to use it in her
Vol.2-620 PME-NA 2006 Proceedings

own classroom. By the end of the project, Janice reported that she was using it on a regular basis
[Int-Janice].
Teachers frequently reported that they were able to put their observations into immediate use.
For example, Susan watched Karen teach a patterning activity, was deeply impressed (I was in
awe [Int-Susan]) and then used the same lesson with her own students. Susan was particularly
appreciative of the opportunity to observe an experienced peer because Susan was teaching grade
3 for only the second timemost of her experience was as a kindergarten teacher.
Teachers also cited student evidence (enthusiasm, quality of student discourse, effort seeking
multiple solutions) for their claims of improved teaching performance. The evidence of increased
mastery experiences was extensive and explicit. The in-service also provided teachers with
vicarious experiences. By observing teachers like themselves successfully enacting standards-
based teaching, teachers felt more capable.
A less anticipated third finding was that the opportunity to engage in peer coaching led
participants to self-reflect more frequently and deeply. Participants reported that they normally
have little opportunity to reflect on the success of lessons, beyond the private ruminations that
occur on the flyas you are driving home [Int-Janice]. In contrast the peer coaching process
provided an opportunity for teachers to explicitly share their interpretations of lesson outcomes
with a knowledgeable colleague who provided feedback. For example, Helens observations of
William using a new text resource led her to think about how she was using that same resource.
Helen saw that Williams implementation was more advanced than hers but she felt that she had
incorporated some elements into her teaching. Helen concluded that although she was not
following it as strictly as William, she was on the right track [Int.-Helen]. Simultaneously,
William, as the observed, was questioning his own teaching: I find myself questioning things
that I am doing more and more...critically looking at the way I'm teaching and evaluating. [Int-
William] Both Helen and William believed that self-questioning led to higher quality instruction.

Limits of the peer coaching relationship

Some teachers had difficulty making contact and sustaining conversations about their
teaching [Field notes-S3]. A key impediment was that five of the six pairs involved cross-school
groupings. This resulted in considerable travel to get to the partner's school. Difficulty in the
debriefing component of peer coaching may have also been related to the anxiety some teachers
felt about being observed. For example, Janice remembered asking herself during a peer
observation lesson: Why cant I understand what that student is saying? I bet Jill [the peer
observer] knows what that student is saying. [Field notes-S2] Further, some peers were
reluctant to suggest substantive changes unless their partner suggested it first.

Recommendations/Implications
The in-service had a positive effect on teachers, demonstrating that professional development
combining peer coaching with carefully designed input on instructional strategies is a fruitful
approach to the development of teacher capacity. We recommend that the procedures used in this
study be used in subsequent in-service but we also think they could be strengthened in several
ways: 1) Consider a whole school approach by moving in-service to the school. We believe in-
service effects would be heightened if teachers worked in same grade pairs embedded within a
school staff. A key part of this strategy would be to link the peer coaching process directly to the
school plan. 2) Extend the treatment to five coaching sessions rather than three. Since the initial
reaction to the peer coaching process for some teachers was a reduction in confidence, which
Teacher education Inservice/Professional Development Vol.2-621

subsequently rebounded, extending the number of coaching cycles would maximize teacher
learning. 3) In subsequent sessions we suggest sharing more control with teachers by inviting
them to self-select goals from among the ten dimensions in the rubric.

Relevance of Paper to PME-NA Goals

This paper addresses the core goal of deepening the psychological aspects of teaching and
learning mathematics by connecting a key mathematics education problem (how to increase
teacher implementation of standards-based mathematics teaching) to a psychological theory
(social cognition) and to a key theme in psychology (teacher beliefs about their capacity).

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