Investigating the Effectiveness of the NWREL Mathematics ProblemSolving Model: A Quasi-Experimental Study
Flexible problem solving capabilities and mathematical proficiency are two
crucial goals of the reform in school mathematics (NCTM, 2000; Rand Corporation,
2003). With the accountability focus of the legislation of No Child Left Behind and
increasing complexity of high-stakes assessment in mathematics that require an expanded
repertoire of knowledge and skills on the part of students, teacher knowledge and practice
of sophisticated problem-solving instruction and assessment are of high priority. The
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL), in partnership with Oregon State
University and Portland State University, proposes a contextual research project that
seeks to validate a classroom-based model of problem-solving assessment in middle
school mathematics.
The NWREL Mathematics Problem-solving ModelTM is a classroom focused
intervention that includes a professional development program to focus teacher reflection
and subsequent action on evidence of student understanding, a collection of exemplary
assessment tasks, and a trait-based problem solving rubric that is grounded by the NCTM
standards and a reform-oriented view of mathematics problem solving. In addition, the
professional development model incorporates the use of Internet-based classroom
organization tools to facilitate teacher to teacher and teacher to student communication.
This partnership takes a multidisciplinary approach to the research on an educational
intervention designed to increase students’ abilities in mathematical understanding. This
research examines the integration of teacher professional development, classroom
formative and summative assessment practices and an applied psychometric approach
that focuses assessment on learning in order to provide multiple lines of validation of the
intervention.
Research addressed by OSU researchers
This research will employ a classroom-based experimental/quasi-experimental design
in conjunction with a qualitative microgenetic research approach to examine the
cognitive development of mathematical thinking in the classroom and the effect of the
use of the model. OSU researchers are engaged specifically in studying the following
question:
Does the use of the NWREL Model result in valid and reliable formative and
summative assessment decisions on the part of the teachers?
 Do the teachers’ uses of the problem-solving instructional processes,
sample problems, and rubric result in assessment practices that have high
intra- and inter-rater reliability?
 What is the evidence of the teachers’ use of assessment information from
students to inform instructional plans?
The project has been funded by the National Science Foundation for five years (20052010) for approximately $1.8 million.