Practical Issues for Improving Student
Achievement in Secondary
Mathematics
Pamela L. Paek, Ph.D.
Susan Hull, Ph.D.
Charles A. Dana Center, University of Texas at Austin
2008 NCSM Annual Conference
Salt Lake City, UT
April 7, 2008
1
Definition
• Practices worthy of attention (PWOA) are
practices that show promise of improving
students’ mathematics performance,
specifically at the secondary level.
• PWOA are practices currently in use at schools
and districts across the nation that have been
developed to provide equity and access to
quality mathematics teaching and learning for
all students, especially those who have had
challenges in succeeding in mathematics.
2
PWOA Stem From District
Concerns, Including:
• Helping all students succeed in Algebra
• Offering upper-level high school courses that
provide preparation and smooth transition to
higher education and the work force
• Addressing the mathematics needs of
special populations
• Identifying model instructional programs
• Strengthening teacher capacity and growing
the supply of teachers
3
Raising Student Achievement
The practices of the 22 nominated sites fall
into the following three broad categories for
raising student achievement:
1. Summer bridge programs
2. Requiring rigorous coursework
3. Embedded student support
4
Summer Bridge Programs
• For students prior to their freshman year
• Not remedial
• Developing problem-solving skills for
Algebra I success
• Building peer and teacher relationships
• Developing academic network and culture
• Requires changes in attitudes and practices
of administrators, teachers, and students
• Learning that effort pays off
5
Summer Bridge Programs
Profiled summer bridge programs:
• Academic Youth Development*
• Chicago’s Step Up to High School
• Note: profiles with an asterisk are summarized in this
presentation with an excerpt of the profile in the
handout for discussion.
6
Academic Youth Development
• Three-week transitional summer program for
students rising from 8th grade to 9th grade
Algebra 1
• Teaches students about effort-based ability,
working hard for academic success, and taking
responsibility for their own learning
• Helps students use these learnings in their
upcoming mathematics courses
• Students then model respectful engagement and
academic success, thus helping shape the
classroom culture during the regular school year
7
Requiring Rigorous Coursework
• Requires change in how districts and schools
think about student ability, advising, and
scheduling
• Specific course completion goals are set and
backward-mapped to curriculum to prepare
students in math strands and topics
• Student supports built into higher course
requirements to help them do well in these
more rigorous courses
8
Rigorous Coursework
Profiled sites for rigorous coursework
• Bellevue School District
• El Paso Collaborative
• Grant High School (Portland, OR)
• Norfolk Public Schools*
9
Norfolk Public Schools
• Goal is to have all students pass Algebra I by
end of their 8th-grade year
• Focused on vertical articulation and
coherence of mathematics across grades by
integrating algebraic reasoning across all
topics in the K–7 curriculum in a coherent
content strand involving patterns, functions,
and algebra
• Mathematics taught for a minimum of 90
minutes per day at all grade levels
10
Embedded Student Support
• To meet higher expectations, districts and schools
are embedding support structures within students’
daily schedules
• Small schools do this as a regular part of each
student’s schooling
• Low student-to-teacher ratio helps teachers
provide students more individualized attention
• School culture has students thinking about
college as a regular part of their schooling
• Tutorial programs and extra time for mathematics
instruction
11
Embedded Student Support
Profiled sites for embedded student support:
• Eastside College Preparatory School*
• High Tech High
• YES College Preparatory School
• Evanston Township High School
12
Eastside College Preparatory School
• Goal is to provide a strong student-centered
academic environment by providing a college
preparatory curriculum and all the kinds of
assistance and support students need to meet
the high expectations of the curriculum
• Student support systems are embedded pieces
of the Eastside school day
– – – – open campus
daily tutorials
individual advising
enrichment programs
13
Building Teacher Capacity
The practices of the 22 nominated sites
fall into the following three broad
categories for building teacher capacity:
1. Redefining mathematics teacher roles
and responsibilities
2. Making instruction public
3. Providing new, customizable tools for
teaching
14
Broadened Teacher Roles/Responsibilities
• Teachers are redefining how they think of
teaching and the contributions they make to
their students’ learning
• Includes expanding the role of teachers and
their responsibility for working with other
school professionals to target subpopulations
perceived at high risk of failure
• Includes broadened roles and taking
responsibility for district initiatives and
leadership
15
Broadened Roles
Profiled for broadening teacher roles and
responsibilities:
• Denver Public Schools*
• New York City Department of Education
• Portland Public Schools
• Lamoille South Supervisory Union
• Partnership for High Achievement
16
Denver Public Schools
• Developed collaboration between mathematics and
special education teachers (work in pairs for the
academic year, meeting every six weeks)
• In each meeting, pairs write a single math lesson plan,
working together to build in accessibility and
accommodations to address the range of their students’
individual challenges and needs
• Goal is to maintain the integrity of the math while also
following a process for planning accessibility strategies
that address learning barriers
• Built into each meeting are opportunities to reflect on
use of specific strategies and share goals and cautions
regarding accessibility strategies
17
Making Instruction Public
• Requires teachers to open up their
classrooms, trusting that observers are not
evaluating them but are providing valuable
feedback to help them reflect on their
practices
• Allows teaching and learning to be captured
in multiple ways from multiple sources, giving
teachers regular feedback so they can
continually work on improving their teaching
18
Making Instruction Public
Profiled for making instruction public:
• Columbus Public Schools
• Phoenix Union High School District
• Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative*
19
Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative
• Mathematics coaches observe each teacher’s
classroom 20 times per year and discuss their
observations with teachers one-on-one.
• Makes teachers’ instruction open to outside
feedback while providing a structure for teachers
to learn how to improve their instruction
• General structure of each visit includes a
preconference, observation of a lesson, and a
postconference.
• The mathematics coaches tend to relate to their
teachers in one of three ways—as collaborators,
models, or leaders.
20
Tools for Teaching
• An issue in training teachers in the use of new tools
and resources is that professional development is
usually the same for all teachers in a given school
or field
• The success of such strategies and tools differs
significantly in different cases, since teachers come
into the workshops with different knowledge,
experiences, and pedagogical practices
• To remedy this problem, customizable trainings
help teachers appropriate new tools and strategies
to improve their teaching practices
21
Tools for Teaching
Profiled for tools for teaching:
• Agile Mind
• Anchorage School District*
• Boston Public Schools
• Cleveland Municipal School District
22
Anchorage School District
• Developed its own comprehensive online data warehouse
that follows students longitudinally (district and state
assessments across several years) with data once found
only in their paper cumulative folders
• Purpose of this system is to give teachers access to data on
their students (by class or by individual) at any time
• Can sort students by demographic information like race/
ethnicity or sex based on proficiency on various
mathematics assessments
• Features a grade-level expectation item bank that can be
used to develop customized mini-assessments as part of the
instructional cycle for measuring and improving student
learning on different mathematics expectations
23
Picking a Category
Which of the following categories does your district need to
pay most attention to? Keep in mind that the goal of these
practices is to raise student achievement and to increase
teacher capacity to raise student achievement.
Raising Student
Achievement
Building Teacher Capacity
1. Summer bridge
1. Broadened roles and
responsibilities
2. Requiring rigorous courses
2. Making instruction public
3. Intense student support
3. New tools and customized
support
24
Questions to Consider
1. What factors and logistics are most
critical to making this practice work as a
PWOA?
2. What would it look like to transfer this
PWOA to your district? What would have
to happen? Who would be involved?
25
Reporting Out
Raising Student Achievement
1. Summer bridge
2. Requiring rigorous courses
3. Intense student support
Building Teacher Capacity
1. Broadened roles and responsibilities
2. Making instruction public
3. New tools and customized support
26
Thank You for Your Time
A full report of this project (including an executive
summary, report on building teacher capacity, report
on raising student achievement, and complete
profiles of the 22 sites) can be found at http://
utdanacenter.org/pwoa.
You can also find an article on pages 9-14 of the
Spring 2008 NCSM journal (Vol. 10, No.1).
If you have any questions or comments, please
contact me at Pamela.Paek@mail.utexas.edu
27