Recent Technical Assistance Projects
Title: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study - TIMSS
Sponsor/Funder: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education; Johnson Foundation; Intel Foundation; TERC; SERVE; NWREL; McREL; AEL; SEDL; NCREL; ENC; and the National Science Foundation
Target Audience: Mathematicians, mathematics educators, K-12 mathematics teachers and administrators, professional developers, school district staff, and institutions of higher education
Collaborating Agencies: Eisenhower Network members: TERC, SERVE, NWREL, McREL, AEL, SEDL, NCREL, and ENC; Johnson Foundation; LessonLab, Franklin Institute; National Center for Education Statistics (NCES); Boston College; and participating schools and universities
Dates: 1996 - 2005
Description: RBS has been a leader in exploring and disseminating the TIMSS data and implications to schools, producing many resource materials and hosting a number of professional development events.
Specifically, in partnership with one or more of the above-noted agencies, RBS:
- Translated and disseminated the data from TIMSS for the education community through conferences, workshops, and two electronic mail lists.
- Designed, planned, and offered a two-day TIMSS 1999 Video Study Conference (2003) to introduce participants to the data from the study and video clips of lessons in three countries.
- Provided Video Study Conference participants with an opportunity to take the online TIMSS Algebra course co-developed by LessonLab and Intel Foundation.
- Designed, planned, and offered a two-day follow-up TIMSS Facilitators Workshop (2003) to prepare participants who had completed the course to become facilitators for the TIMSS Algebra course.
- Documented and monitored the courses offered by the TIMSS facilitators.
- Identified and recruited mathematicians (10), pre-college educators (8), post-secondary educators (8), and professional developers (8) to analyze seven TIMSS 1999 mathematics lessons, followed by submission of written reports in preparation for a face-to-face meeting.
- Designed, planned, and convened a four-day TIMSS Work Session at the Wingspread Conference Center (2004) to discuss participants' individual analyses of the 28 public release TIMSS mathematics lessons.
- As a follow-up to the work session, RBS is continuing work on developing a draft resource guide that will be piloted with pre-service and in-service. teachers by post-secondary mathematics education faculty and pre-college professional developers.
Outcomes:
- Conference participants gained knowledge about the TIMSS 1999 Video Study and obtained concrete views of teaching in other countries.
- Twenty-two of the 24 TIMSS Facilitators Workshop participants went on to offer 16 courses to 209 pre-service and in-service teachers.
- The work session produced eight or nine individual analyses for each of the 28 public release mathematics lessons. Two of the eight teams analyzed the same set of seven lessons, resulting in a total of 56 team analyses, which are being used in the preparation of the resource guide.
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