McREL: Turning what works in teaching, leading, and learning into innovation and results

Mathematics Lesson Interactions and Contexts for American Indian Students in Plains Region Schools: An Exploratory Study

Product Description	In an effort to reduce the achievement gap and improve the quality and outcomes of mathematics education for American Indian students, a variety of mathematics initiatives have been adopted in classrooms and schools across the nation. This study focuses on three different approaches to mathematics teaching and the current and potential impact of each approach on classroom practice and American Indian student achievement. In 2003, McREL formed a research partnership with researchers, regional teachers, and local and state education leaders to conduct meaningful, methodologically sound research on mathematics education and, by doing so, provide a region-specific infrastructure and set of resources to practitioners for developing and weighing different possibilities for teaching mathematics to American Indian students. The findings of this study suggest that American Indian students experience different levels of cognitive challenge when taught by teachers in schools that have adopted different approaches. These findings highlight the need to sustain and expand partnership research on what works for improving American Indian student achievement.
Authors	McREL
Target Audience	Teachers and instructional leaders in schools serving American Indian students.
Ways to Use this Product	The present study offers a descriptive analysis and comparison of six lessons taught to American Indian students. The descriptions provide a snapshot of practices that are often considered "best practices" for American Indian and other students. These best practices have evolved to provide opportunities to learn challenging academic standards. Although the present results raise more questions than they answer, the study gives readers a framework for systematically reflecting on classroom practices and asking if American Indian students are truly engaged in optimal learning.
Key Ideas	This study was intended to identify classroom and student variables of interest and develop instruments for their measurement. A comparative case study was conducted on six mathematics lessons as implemented from one of three adopted approaches: Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), Success for All (SFA) MathWings, or Saxon Math. In each lesson, American Indian students comprised a substantial subgroup of students in the class or the whole class. Key results indicated that level of cognitive demand in mathematical tasks and teacher's questions distinguished the lessons taught from the different approaches.
How to Get this Product	View/Download the PDF
APA Citation	McREL. (2005). Mathematics Lesson Interactions and Contexts for American Indian Students in Plains Region Schools: An Exploratory Study. Aurora, CO: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning.