ASSESSING TEACHERS’ DISCOURSE ABOUT THE PRE-K–12 GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSMENT AND INSTRUCTION IN STATISTICS EDUCATION (GAISE)

Abstract

This paper starts from the premise that teachers’ discourse communities influence how ideas for reform are implemented. In order to understand some of the discourse surrounding the reforms proposed by GAISE, an online focus group activity was conducted. The focus group consisted of pre-service and practicing teachers responsible for teaching statistics at various grade levels. Focus group discourse was used to formulate a set of working hypotheses about actions that need to be taken to facilitate the implementation of GAISE. Working hypotheses emphasized that statistics educators need to play roles in developing teachers’ content knowledge, helping teachers understand the differences between mathematics and statistics, deepening teachers’ pedagogical knowledge, building teachers’ curricular knowledge, and influencing the writing of state-level standards.

First published May 2008 at Statistics Education Research Journal Archives