Professional Development: Assessment
From APEC HRDWG Wiki
Teacher quality is an important aspect of any education system and although debate exists as to what exactly constitutes a teacher quality indicator, most observers agree that teacher professional development is one element that relates to the quality or effectiveness of the teacher. The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is administered to 4th and 8th grade students across various APEC economies to test student curriculum-based knowledge. The TIMSS also administers a teacher questionnaire to the teachers of the students surveyed. This questionnaire includes many items related to teacher quality, such as teacher professional development. Although not all APEC economies participate in the TIMSS, the data that is available allows for a comparison of various factors across participating APEC economies. The rest of this page contains information on teacher professional development in Mathematics assessments of those teachers surveyed during the 2007 TIMSS in the selected participating APEC economies.
For other information on teacher quality, please visit the Teacher Quality Portal page.
Summary
According to the international average, 37% of 4th grade Math teachers participate in Professional Development in Mathematics assessments. Although this figure is closer to half for the average of the selected APEC economies (48%), there is still a split between the economies where the majority of 4th grade Math teachers do participate and those economies where the majority do participate in this type of Professional Development. More than half of the 4th grade Math teachers do participate in Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, the Russian Federation, and Singapore. While less than half of the 4th grade teachers participate in Professional Development in Math assessment in Chinese Taipei, Japan, and the United States.
While the internationally, less than half of the 8th grade Math teachers participate in Professional Development in Mathematics assessment, this pattern changes for the selected APEC economies; for 8th grade Math teachers, on average more than half participate in this type of Professional Development. In fact, in 8 out of the 10 selected economies, at least 52% of the 8th grade Math teachers reported participating in assessment development. Only in Japan and the Republic of Korea, less than 40% of the 8th grade Math teachers had participated in Professional Development in Math assessment.
(Not all of the economies are included in both graphs due to data availability)
Chart 1. Percentage of 4th Grade Math Teachers Participation in Professional Development in Mathematics Assessment
Chart 2. Percentage of 8th Grade Math Teachers Participation in Professional Development in Mathematics Assessment
Chart 3. Percentage of 4th Grade Science Teachers Participation in Professional Development in Science Assessment
Chart 4. Percentage of 8th Grade Science Teachers Participation in Professional Development in Science Assessment
