PRINCIPALS’ VIEWS OF MATHEMATICS TEACHER LEARNING

School leaders are believed to play a central role in promoting mathematics teacher learning. Yet relatively little is known about the extent to which principals and other school leaders understand the nature of mathematics teaching and demands for mathematics teacher learning. This study examines principals’ professional vision of mathematics teacher learning, with a specific focus on how principals interpret challenges faced by mathematics teachers and the kinds of support they recommend providing in mathematics instruction. Data for the study come from interviews with thirty-five urban school principals, in which each principal was asked to respond to two mathematics teaching scenarios that called for improvements in instruction. Through phases of open and systematic coding and pattern identification, we found that most principals noticed three issues related to teacher learning — the 1) realistic nature of the scenarios, 2) role of the principal in affecting change in teachers’ practices, and 3) potential of professional development to support teacher learning. However, most principals did not deeply attend to the subject-specific nature of the scenarios. Results advance our theoretical understanding of the relationship between the practices of school leadership and teacher learning, including the role of established routines and generic versus subject-specific support.