Using Technology Resources to
Support Rigorous Daily Mathematics
Teaching and Learning
Agile Mind Services: Course Supports
Agile Assessment
Academic Youth Development
Susan Hull, Dana Center
Marsha Lilly, Agile Mind
2008 NCSM Annual Conference
April 9, 2008
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Agile Mind Course Support
Designed to help educators support students by providing
• complete, integrated mathematics programs to help make
rigorous, comprehensive instruction and assessment
accessible to all students;
• comprehensive support for new and experienced
teachers;
• help to campuses and districts to meet their student
achievement goals and accountability requirements; and
• ways to motivate students toward higher achievement.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Agile Mind Courses
• • • • • • • • • • Middle School Math 2
Middle School Math 3
Algebra I
Geometry
Algebra II
Precalculus
AP Statistics
AP Calculus AB
Biology
Academic Youth Development
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Agile Mind Resources
• • • • • • • • • Complete curriculum
Animations
Rich questions
Advice for instruction
Language notes
Assessments
Reports
Links to state standards and textbooks
Student activity sheets
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Mathematics Unfolding:
Conceptual Pathways to Understanding
• Selected animations designed to support
learners in their journey to mastery of
mathematics—from middle school to
Algebra I, to Geometry, to Algebra II and
Precalculus, to Calculus, and to Statistics
• Open-access topics
– Functions
– Volume
– Rate
• Browse as an educator, student, or
parent
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Mathematics Unfolding:
Conceptual Pathways to Understanding
Functions
Every day—although you may rarely think of it—you
encounter changing quantities and the relationships
between them. Each time you put gasoline in your car,
you see how the total cost rises as the number of
gallons increases. If your job pays by the hour, you
know the number of hours you work determines your
gross salary. There are infinitely more examples of
situations that can be represented by functions.
Functions are useful because we can employ them to
make predictions and answer questions about these
situations.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Agile Assessment
Designed to help educators
use assessment to inform instruction
and improve student outcomes
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Questions to Consider
• How comfortable are you with your outcomes across the district for
mathematics students?
• How comfortable are you and your teachers with the extent to
which you know in advance how prepared your students are for the
state exams?
• What assessment resources are used in your district, and how are
they applied?
• Do you think data are used effectively to inform instruction?
• Do you or your teachers think that time spent on benchmark
assessments takes away from valuable instructional time?
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Item Quality (1)
What is your experience with the quality of assessment resources for
middle school and high school mathematics?
• High-quality items are authored
by assessment experts at
the Charles A. Dana Center
and vetted by leading
assessment experts.
• Empirical engine allows
for ongoing improvement
of items based on usage data.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Item Quality (2)
Have you found assessment resources that challenge students and
provide an opportunity for them to demonstrate knowledge and
misconceptions?
• Contextually rich
problems evaluate
students’ problemsolving skills.
• Answer choices identify
common student errors
and misconceptions.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Alignment to Standards
How well are your assessment questions tied to your curriculum and
your state standards?
• All items are aligned to
learning standards.
• The Charles A. Dana
Center, experts in state and
national accountability
standards, authored the
alignments.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Usability and Convenience
How much time is spent creating and administering assessments at
your school and district?
Agile Assessment is designed to
• save time creating tests for
classroom, school, or
district-wide assessment;
• support development of
tests for specific standards,
concepts, and skills;
• enable educators to identify
and support specific student
populations; and
• administer online or printed
tests.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Data Supports Instruction (1)
How do assessment data support instruction in your school and
district?
• Immediate, usable data
provided in easy-to-read
real-time reports
• Student performance
reported by learning
standards
• Easy capability to identify
common student errors
and misunderstandings
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Data Supports Instruction (2)
How do assessment items and data tie to your instructional resources?
• Each assessment
item is aligned to
instruction in an
Agile Mind Algebra I
or Geometry topic.
• With access to the
course services,
students can instantly
review instruction.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Available Reports
Item Analysis
Class level
School level
District level
Scores and Responses
Responses and average scores for each item
Test Analysis
Student performance by standards,
objectives, key concepts, and topic
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What can teachers do?
To effectively use assessment to inform instruction and target specific
student needs, teachers can
• create tests with challenging items that effectively
assess student understanding,
• use real-time reports to identify strengths and
weaknesses and adapt instruction accordingly, and
• connect student
performance data to
instructional resources.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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What can administrators do?
To support teachers in delivering and assessing a standards-based
curriculum, administrators can
• encourage the use of common
assessments to measure
progress securely and reliably,
• use reports to identify trends
and patterns in schools and
classes; and
• conveniently pinpoint specific
areas in which additional
instruction and support are needed.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Academic Youth Development
Shaping the Culture of Ninth-Grade Classrooms
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Why focus on the transition
to Algebra I?
• Algebra is a gatekeeper—50% of ninth-grade
students fail Algebra I.
• College and workforce expectations have
increased.
• High school graduation requirements have
increased.
• Inadequate preparation and limited problem-solving
skills exist.
• The transition between middle school math and
Algebra I is crucial.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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What is Academic Youth
AYD helps students develop
• academic identities as learners who
recognize, value, and seek high-quality
education.
• skills that enable them to help create and
contribute to a learning community.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Academic Youth
Development Initiative . . .
• Is
• Is not
• a set of experiences designed
to influence student beliefs,
attitudes, and behaviors about
learning;
• student remediation of
grade 8 math,
• an academic development
program for “regular
students”; and
• preteaching of Algebra I,
and
• credit recovery,
• a summer math class.
• an intervention designed to
create and support a
classroom culture of
respectful engagement.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Goals of the AYD Initiative
Three primary goals
• To improve student performance in Algebra I
and all high school mathematics courses
• To build a classroom culture focused on
respectful engagement in academics
• To increase the capacity for teaching to
rigorous mathematics standards
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Two Areas of Focus
• Underlying issues about controllable factors
related to student learning and achievement
• Critical problem-solving skills
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Social Psychology Influences
The program incorporates ideas from
social psychology:
• Effective effort: Improving and getting better at
something requires the right kind of effort.
• Attribution: Success is not due solely to luck.
• Malleable intelligence: Intelligence is
something that can be influenced and shaped
through actions and beliefs.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Beliefs, Attitudes, and Behavior
AYD focuses on the beliefs, attitudes, and
behavior of a cadre of emerging student
“allies” that algebra teachers can rely on to
• model effective engagement and academic
success,
• help support and shape the Algebra I
classroom culture for learning mathematics,
and
• build a strong relationship between teachers
and students.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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AYD shapes and supports
a culture in which . . .
• engagement, participation, positive motivation,
and risk-taking are developed and embraced.
• students do not have to choose between being
smart and cool.
• effort and persistence are recognized and valued.
• mutual accountability is fostered and expected.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Model of the Program
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Preliminary Results
At the end of the summer bridge component . . .
• there was an increase in students’ confidence in their
mathematics ability.
• there were gains in student understanding of how to
work hard to be successful.
• students believed that they were in charge of their own
learning and could be agents of change.
• there were gains in students’ sense of belonging and
acceptance.
• there was a decrease in anxiety about failing
mathematics.
• persistence, identification, and enjoyment in
mathematics increased significantly.
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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AYD Online Curriculum Topics
• Getting smarter: growing your brain through
hard work and effort
• Learning to learn and what learning feels like
• Learning with peers: the importance of good
communication
• Making attributions: What do you have control
over in learning?
• Applying “learning about learning” strategies in
problem-solving situations
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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AYD Online Curriculum Features
• Interactive animations, simulations, and
visualizations
• Online and offline explorations and
investigations
• Flexible instructional support resources and
tools
• Online and offline small group and individual
explorations and investigations
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Let’s take a look . . .
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Now it’s your turn to explore
Agile Mind Courses and AYD.
• • • • • • • • • • Middle School Math 2
Middle School Math 3
Algebra I
Geometry
Algebra II
Precalculus
AP Statistics
AP Calculus AB
Biology
Academic Youth Development
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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Now it’s your turn!
• http://www.agilemind.com (unfolding of topics
over mathematics courses)
• http://train32.agilemind.com (AM courses)
– Login: teacher1, teacher2, …
– Password: train
– My courses
• Explore unfolding of topics, Agile Mind
courses, and Academic Youth Development
• Please let us know if you have questions!
• For PowerPoint go to Dana Center website:
www.utdanacenter.org
© 2007-2008 Agile Mind Initiative
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