Standards for Reporting Mathematics Professional Development in Research Studies

Abstract

This Research Commentary addresses the need for standards for describing mathematics professional development in mathematics education research reports. Considering that mathematics professional development is an emerging research field, it is timely to set expectations for what constitutes high-quality reporting in this field. Through an examination of the research reports on the topic published in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education during the past decade, I offer a framework and a set of features to be used in initiating discussions about pros and cons of having reporting standards. I contend that when researchers have standards for describing the mathematics professional development they are studying, better quality will be attained in the new research field.