THE IMPACT OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ON MATHEMATICS TEACHER CONFIDENCE AND STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT: FINDINGS FROM TIMSS 2015

The purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of professional development on Mathematics teacher confidence and student achievement, the key role of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is to provide guidelines and direction on how to improve the quality of classroom teaching in different countries. Due to the disparities in the TIMSS scores over the years, various scholars have investigated the influencing factors.Previous researches showed a lot of interest in how teacher professional development translates into better student outcomes. The goal of teacher professional development should be to promote or change the behavior of the teacher and eventually impact student learning. In their study, Lumpe, Czernik, Haney, and Beltyukova (2012) investigated the relationship between the participation of teachers in professional development programs and student achievement. The study findings showed that participation in professional development predicted student achievement in science (Lumpe et al., 2012). Another study by Bruce, Esmonde, Ross, Dookie, and Beatty (2010) scrutinized the correlation between classroom-embedded teacher professional learning and student achievement. The outcome of the study revealed high teacher efficacy and student achievement after the implementation of the professional learning program. A more recent study by Althauser (2015) focused on the impact of job-embedded professional development on the performance of students in mathematics. The results showed that continued professional development may lead to better student achievement in mathematics (Althauser, 2015). Basically, these studies imply that any form of teacher professional development can benefit students by improving their performance in mathematics. Of the relationships tested, only two models were found to be significant: confidence to develop students thinking skills (R square 0.230, p<0.01, CL 99%) and the confidence to improve the understanding of struggling students (R square 0.209, p<0.05, CL 95%). Examining the coefficients of the significant models, it was established that professional development aimed at the improvement of critical thinking or problem-solving skills positively and significantly impact teachers’ confidence to develop students' higher-order thinking skills (0.436, p<0.01, CL 99%) and especially among female teachers (-0.335, p<0.01, CL 99%). Also, professional development in pedagogy or instruction positively and significantly impact teachers’ confidence to improve the understanding of struggling students (0.513, p<0.05, CL 95%).