Effects of a professional development program on teacher beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning after one and two years: An experimental study

Teacher beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning are thought to exert a major influence on instructional practice and student learning. More than 200 teachers in 22 schools participated in a randomized controlled trial of the first two years of a three-year professional development program for elementary mathematics teachers called Cognitively Guided Instruction. We found that the program had large effects on teacher beliefs, with their treatment-group teacher beliefs becoming more consistent with the principles undergirding the CGI program. Moderation analyses suggest that the effects were relatively homogeneous in relation to teachers’ baseline years of teaching experience and mathematical knowledge for teaching. • • Randomized controlled trial of the first two years of a CGI teacher professional development program. • • The CGI PD program changes teacher beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning. • • Effects on teacher beliefs were larger after the second year of the CGI program.