42.5 The TEDS-M Study Design
In 2005, two years after beginning the pilot study, we secured a larger grant from
the NSF to carry out the IEA’s First International Mathematics Teacher Education
Study (TEDS-M).^14 The study sought to explore a key question that had not been
answered satisfactorily in the United States or internationally: How are teachers
prepared to teach mathematics in primary and lower secondary schools? And with
what results?^15 The key research questions for TEDS-M focused on the relation-
ships between teacher education policies, institutional practices, and future teacher
mathematics and pedagogy knowledge^16 :
- What is the national and policy context for mathematics teacher education?
- What are the main characteristics of teacher education programs that provide
mathematics preparation to future primary and secondary teachers? What
opportunities to learn do they provide? - What is the level and depth of the mathematics and related teaching knowledge
attained by prospective primary and secondary teachers?
See Fig.42.2for a visualization of the multilevel relationships we explored as
we investigated teacher education outcomes. Consistent with IEA policy TEDS-M
extended an open invitation to IEA countries and others not in the IEA network to
participate in the study. In the end, 17 countries joined the study: Botswana,
Canada, Chile, Georgia, Germany, Malaysia, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Poland,
Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States.
These countries fall between medium and high on the Human Development Index
(HDI) and varied in size, demographics, and wealth. The countries that participated
in TEDS-M were a self-selected group, yet within the group are countries whose
(^14) This project was funded by a major grant from the NSF (REC-0514431) and was sponsored by
the IEA with leadership from Michigan State University in collaboration with the Australian
Council for Educational Research (ACER). Thefinal report of TEDS-M, which contains extensive
descriptive information on the studyfindings, was published in Tatto et al. ( 2012 ) (see the IEA
Publications websitehttp://pub.iea.nl/please click the‘online’link in the“Complete list of
publications”box at the right and then search publications by selecting“a study/project”and then
select the TEDS-M link. A copy of this publication can be obtained directly from the author).
(^15) At the same time, another study sponsored by the OECD was launched. The study was named
TALIS and, according to the OECD,“provided thefirst internationally comparable data on con-
ditions affecting teachers in schools based on thefindings of the OECD’s survey in 23 participating
countries”(http://www.oecd.org/edu/school/theexperienceofnewteachers-resultsfromtalis2008.htm).
TALIS is very different from TEDS-M, but some countries did not participate in TEDS-M under
the assumption that TALIS would answer the same or similar questions. It does not.
(^16) For a complete description of the study design please consult the TEDS-MConceptual
Frameworkdocument which is housed at the IEA Publications websitehttp://pub.iea.nl/please
click the‘online’link in the“Complete list of publications”box at the right and then search
publications by selecting“a study/project”and then selecting the TEDS-M link. A copy of this
publication can be obtained directly from the author.
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