1 Milwaukee Mathematics Partnership Using Social Network Analysis to Understand Links Between Teacher Leader Roles and Student Achievement Carl Hanssen Hanssen Consulting, LLC DeAnn Huinker University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee MSP Learning Network Conference Washington, DC January 2009 The Milwaukee Mathematics Partnership (MMP) is supported with funding from the National Science Foundation.

2 Agenda  Context  Methods  Review Sociograms  Results  Conclusions & Discussion

3 MMP Goals  Comprehensive mathematics framework  Distributed leadership  Teacher learning continuum  Student learning continuum

4 MMP Status  Currently in 6 th year of funding under original award  Received a Phase II MSP award  Sustaining funding for the MTL position received from Governor of Wisconsin

5 Evaluation Goals  Help the MMP better serve its constituents and improve its effectiveness  Serve the broader mathematics education community through documentation and dissemination of MMP activities

6 MMP Evaluation Logic Model Student Achievement Teacher Content & Pedagogical Knowledge Math Faculty Involvement Learning Team Effort School Buy-in Teacher Involvement New Courses District Buy-in MPA Ownership MATC Buy-In UWM Buy-In Classroom Practice MMP Activities Proximal Outcomes Distal Outcomes

7 Focus for this study Student Achievement Learning Team Efforts School Buy-in Teacher Involvement Classroom Practice Distributed Leadership

8 Method  Data collected from 29 schools from  Purposefully selected for diversity in School Type Geography Student Achievement MMP Involvement

9 SNA Survey  Open survey approach Teachers & administrators Provide names of individuals with whom you communicated with about mathematics Demographics  Other data School staff lists Student achievement results in terms of % proficient on WKCE

10 Analysis  Maps identify MTL MTS or Teachers Principal Literacy Coach Others in school Others outside  Statistics Network density (%) In-Degree (z-score)

13 MMP Distributed Leadership Continuum LowHigh Tight Network MTL Central Many Links to MTL MTS Inside Many Links to MTS Leadership is shared among many Loose Network MTL Not Central Few Links to MTL MTS Outside Few Links to MTS Leadership responsibility of few

14 Sociograms Review  Work in groups of 2-3  Evaluate the sociogram for distributed leadership characteristics (10 minutes)  Make a judgment about student achievement in that school  Report back

15 A

16 A Student Achievement: 2007: 66% Proficient 3-year trend: -9%

17 B

18 B Student Achievement: 2007: 47% Proficient 3-year trend: +15%

19 C

20 C Student Achievement: 2007: 53% Proficient 3-year trend: +3%

21 Hypotheses  The Math Teacher Leader and Math Teaching Specialist roles within a school are related to student achievement.  The strength of the communication network, as measured by network density, is related to student achievement.

22 MTL Role & Student Achievement

23 MTS Role & Student Achievement

24 Network Density & Student Achievement

25 MTL Role & Network Density

26 Evolution of Distributed Leadership 1. MTL is active within the school 2. Teachers begin extensive collaboration 3. MTL & Teacher collaboration extends outside school (MTS may become heavily involved in the school) 4. MTL is used primarily as a resource 5. Teachers assume math leadership

27 Discussion  What are the implications of distributed leadership for teacher professional development?  How can Social Network Analysis support planning for, and measurement of, pd efforts?

28 Next Steps  Phase II Work More schools Longitudinal Comparison of released and non- released MTL models  Recommendations?