Research at RUSMP encompasses evaluation of our current programs as well as explorations of more general issues relevant to teaching and learning mathematics. We are interested not only in identifying the successes of our programs, but in understanding how and why they are effective. A primary goal of RUSMP is developing schools' capacity to support continual improvement in mathematics instruction. Accomplishing this goal requires action at several levels and attention to our impact on teachers, students, parents and administrators. Our research and evaluation efforts consider these multiple foci with particular attention to the following:

Supporting Instructional Improvement
One of the primary goals of RUSMP is to support continual improvement in mathematics instruction. Our research program aims to further this goal through a better understanding of the role RUSMP plays in fostering instructional change via our involvement at several levels, from the district, to the school, to the individual classroom. We are particularly interested in how teachers use professional development networks, such as that provided through RUSMP, and how these networks can be established and expanded. We focus further on the role of master teachers and collaborative planning in professional development, both of which are essential pieces of our program. Most recently, we have begun investigating teacher efficacy and the development of teacher leaders.

Teachers
Individual teachers are essential to successful education reform and are the primary ingredient in any professional development program. We are interested in how individual teachers' beliefs, knowledge and practice change through participation in our programs. Through case studies and surveys of teachers involved with RUSMP, we hope to gain insight into how individual teachers change their practice and the role their beliefs about teaching and learning, their personal characteristics and dispositions, and their content knowledge play in the process of change. More specifically, we are interested in how collaborative planning structured around the RUSMP learning plan influences how teachers approach instruction and how they think about teaching and learning mathematics.

Students
Perhaps most importantly, we are studying the ways that teachers' participation in RUSMP impacts students. Deepening students' understanding of and appreciation for mathematics is one of the foremost goals of improving mathematics instruction. Of equal importance is helping students overcome mathematics anxiety and increasing their love of the subject. Through standardized test scores and teacher based assessments we can determine whether students in participating teachers' classrooms show gains in achievement.

Classroom Observations
In order to develop a more in-depth understanding of teachers' practices and their impact on students, we also conduct qualitative observations of participating teachers' classrooms. We are interested in documenting the ways that teachers are implementing the techniques they learn in our professional development sessions. We also hope to discover the challenges teachers face as they attempt to translate their new understandings of mathematics instruction into practice.