Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This study evolved out of a commitment to improve mathematics teaching and learning in an alternative high school and to begin to reverse the cycle of educational failure for students labeled “at-risk.” Although research in teacher preparation has explored the ways in which preservice teachers learn to teach mathematics, few studies have focused on how teaching in an alternative high school interacts with and complicates this process. Paralleling the need to improve the preparation of preservice teachers to work with at-risk and other marginalized students is the need for more effective mathematics education programs for at-risk students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influences of reform-based methodologies and materials on preservice teachers’ instructional strategies and the mathematical development of at-risk students in an alternative high school. The analysis suggests that, in addition to influencing the preservice teachers’ instructional practices and constructs of student knowledge and student learning, the reform-based methodologies and materials had a positive impact on student knowledge, learning, and attitudes. By examining the experiences of preservice teachers and students in an alternative high school, the study discussed here offers a model for the improvement of mathematics education for at-risk students.