The Challenges of Newly Adopted Mathematics Curriculum in Title I Schools: A Mixed Methods Study

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to examine the early impacts of the newly adopted mathematics TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge Skills) introduced in 2014 by TEA (Texas Education Agency) that detail the curriculum standards for all students across schools in Texas schools, for grades K-12. The study examined the challenges that teachers and administrators have had to overcome to meet federal legislation educational compliance. Additionally the study examined how schools and districts were professionally developing their teachers on new curricular standards. Five Title 1 schools in four school districts were used in the study. Schools were selected from a TEA campus comparison group from 2015. School districts were located in three different geographical locations in Texas that included north, east, and southeast areas. The researcher utilized the convergent parallel design to make detailed comparisons of both quantitative and qualitative data. Quantitative data consisted of teacher questionnaires generated in Qualtrics and TEA Texas Academic Performance Reports (TAPR). Portraiture was utilized in the qualitative strand. Qualitative data included interviews, observations, and focus groups of both teachers and administrators that were transcribed, coded, and exported into NVivio 11. The findings of the study raise the question of whether schools are adequately training and developing their teachers to meet the needs of students with the implementation of such rigorous standards in mathematics