Laureen J. McIntyre

Exploring Differential Effects of Mathematics Courses on Mathematics Achievement.

Using data from the Longitudinal Study of Mathematics Participation (N = 1,518 students from 34 schools), we investigated the effects of pure and applied mathematics courses on mathematics achievement, controlling for prior mathematics achievement. Results of multilevel modelling showed that the effects of pure mathematics were significant after adjusting for traditionally important student ‐ level predictors of achievement and for school effects. The effects of mathematics courses varied significantly across schools. Students taking pure mathematics achieved higher in smaller schools, particularly schools with higher teacher commitment. Students taking applied mathematics achieved higher if they attended smaller schools. Keywords: mathematics achievement; mathematics courses; multilevel modeling, Alberta education A l’aide de donnees tirees de la Longitudinal Study of Mathematics Participation (N = 1518 eleves dans 34 ecoles albertaines), les auteurs ont etudie les effets des cours de mathematiques pures et appliquees sur les competences en mathematiques en tenant compte des competences anterieures. Les resultats de la modelisation multiveau, une forme des modeles statistiques hierarchiques lineaires, indiquent que les effets des mathematiques pures sont significatifs une fois pris en compte les predicteurs de reussite les plus frequents ainsi que les effets des ecoles. Les effets des cours de mathematiques variaient d’une ecole a l’autre. Les eleves en mathematiques pures ont obtenu de meilleurs resultats dans les ecoles de plus petite taille, surtout dans celles ou les enseignants s’impliquent davantage. Les eleves en mathematiques appliquees ont eux ‐ aussi obtenu de meilleurs resultats dans les ecoles de plus petite taille. Mots cles: reussite en mathematiques, cours de mathematiques, modelisation multiniveau, education en Alberta.

Collaborative action research in Northern Canadian rural and Indigenous schools: learning about young children’s oral language in play contexts

Abstract This article reports on collaborative action research in twelve northern rural and Indigenous communities in four Canadian provinces. Pre-kindergarten, kindergarten, grade one, and Aboriginal Head Start teachers worked with university researchers in three universities to create action research projects with the aim of supporting children’s oral language and writing through play in their classrooms. Inductive analysis of focus group data shows that teachers gained understandings about play as a context both for supporting and for authentic assessment of young children’s oral language. The building of trusting relationships, built through ongoing collaboration with colleagues within their schools and across four provinces, in addition to collaboration with university researchers over a number of years, was viewed as particularly influential to teachers’ professional learning. Additionally, teachers talked about the value of opportunities to contribute to the development of teaching and assessment tools. Participating teachers came to see themselves as making valuable contributions to professional knowledge beyond their northern communities. The 4R’s for conducting research in Indigenous contexts (reciprocity, respect, relevance, and responsibility) provide a framework for deriving implications from this collaborative research. It is important that the results of collaborative action research conducted in rural and Indigenous schools be widely disseminated to provide alternative perspectives to curriculum, research and practice that tend to be urban-oriented.