Teacher Use of an Online Platform to Support Independent Practice in Middle School Mathematics During COVID-19 Disruptions

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Adam

Schools faced unprecedented disruption during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely from the abrupt move to online learning in spring 2020. This study examines how much and how often 58 grade 7 mathematics teachers used an online platform for independent practice across seven U.S. school districts between August 2019 and July 2021. Usage increased over time, and findings link platform use to teacher experience and coach support, highlighting needs for instructional support during remote learning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages19

Reading Time48 min

AccessFree to download

Keywords and study focus

Platform usage during COVID-19

Factors linked to usage

Background on disruption and homework

Educational technology for independent practice

AERA Open January-December 2024, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 1–19 DOI: 10. 1177/23328584241230054 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)© The Author(s) 2024. [https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/ero) Teacher Use of an Online Platform to Support Independent Practice in Middle School Mathematics During COVID-19 Disruptions Eben B. Witherspoon Max Pardo American Institutes for Research Kirk Walters WestEd Rachel Garrett Matthew Hilbert Jennifer Ford Lisa B. Hsin Melissa A. Rodgers Dionisio Garcia Piriz Lauren Burr American Institutes for Research Leslie Thornley WestEd Schools experienced unprecedented disruptions to instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely driven by the abrupt transition to online learning in the spring of 2020. Often, this shift created a “black box” around remote learning and instruction. However, data generated by educational technology platforms can provide a window into instruction during this time. Here, we report on the amount and frequency of usage of an online platform for independent practice used by 58 grade 7 math teachers from seven school districts across multiple U.S. states between August 2019 and July 2021, providing insight into instruction just prior to and during COVID-19 disruptions. Results showed an increased proportion of teachers using the platform at least twice a week over the study period, from 22.2% to 44.1%. Further, platform usage was related to teachers’level of experience and the amount of coach support received, suggesting areas for teacher support during remote instruction. Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, descriptive analysis, educational technology, instructional practices, instructional technologies, learning environments, longitudinal studies, mathematics education, multisite studies, online assessment, platform usage data analysis, remote instruction, secondary data analysis, teacher coaching, teacher context, teacher research Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting school closures caused an unprecedented disruption to education in the United States and around the world. The widespread and nearly instantaneous shift to either hybrid (i.e., both in-person and online) or entirely online instruction during the spring of 2020 led teachers to rely more heavily on online educational platforms and technologies (Engzell et al., 2021) . In cases where there was a shift from in-person instruction to entirely remote instruction, it became difficult to know the extent to which teachers maintained their typical instruction as a result of this shift and, therefore, how to best support teachers’practice during this period. However, close analysis of teacher and student usage data provided by online platforms used over the course of this transition can provide some insight into the extent of changes in instruction that occurred during this period of remote instruction. Homework, typically defined as the schoolwork that students bring home to complete independently, is a central and Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). Witherspoon et al. long-standing instructional practice (Cooper & Valentine, 2001) that was likely to be impacted by COVID-19 and the shift to online learning. For example, some early research has shown large increases during COVID school shutdownsin the number of hours student

FAQs

What does the study analyze about online platform use?

It reports the amount and frequency of usage of an online platform for independent practice used by grade 7 mathematics teachers during the transition surrounding COVID-19 disruptions.

How did platform usage change over the study period?

The proportion of teachers using the platform at least twice a week increased from 22.2% to 44.1% over the study period.

Which teacher factors were linked to platform usage?

Platform usage was related to teachers’ level of experience and the amount of coach support received, indicating areas where support may be needed during remote instruction.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Adam