Teachers'Mathematics Knowledge For Teaching And School Context

Teachers' Mathematics

Knowledge for Teaching

and School Context

A Study of California Teachers

Heather C. Hill

Harvard University

Sarah Theule Lubienski

University of Illinois at UrbanaÐ'-Champaign

This article examines the relationship between the mathematical knowledge

of 438 K-8 California teachers and the demographics of the schools in which

they work. To measure mathematical knowledge, we used a series of multiplechoice

problems meant to represent both the content teachers teach and the

specialized knowledge of mathematics that teachers might possess. Teachers

in schools with higher proportions of low-SES and Hispanic students

performed more poorly on these measures than did teachers from other schools.

Implications for policy and for further research are discussed.

Keywords: teacher knowledge; student demographics

Wide academic achievement gaps exist between students of different

races, ethnicities, and social classes (Braswell, Daane, & Grigg, 2003;

Jencks & Phillips, 1998; Lee, 2002). As scholars have explored reasons for

these achievement gaps, policy makers have designed programs meant to

close them. While some programs, such as Head Start, Title I, and after-school

tutoring, are designed to directly address student needs, others target school

and teacher