Watch this video by Uri Treisman, Keeping Our Eyes on the Prize. What is your reaction to Uri’s analysis of the math education in the United States and what changes in math education does this analysis suggest?
Individual Post
What can math teachers do to increase mathematics achievement in their schools districts (as a change agent)?
Group Post
What roles do you think a student focused assessment system plays in increasing mathematics achievement (at the district and classroom levels)?
Give improvement feedback to peers on their learning progressions, benchmark assessments, and classroom assessments.
Group Post
What roles do you think a student focused assessment system plays in increasing mathematics achievement (at the district and classroom levels)?
After discussing this question in class, we decided on several important aspects of a student-focused assessment system at both the district level and the classroom level.
Classroom – One important component of a student-focused classroom is that the teacher keeps pace with the students, which may mean teachers need to slow down! By doing this, we may have to narrow down the amount of content, but students will have a deeper understanding in general. Second, classroom assessments need to become more meaningful. Instead of using a quiz or test to just determine a grade, it should really reflect what the student knows and is able to do. In the same way, these assessments need to provide students feedback on their performance. With this feedback, students will understand what areas they need improvement in and they can focus their time accordingly. Lastly, it is important that teachers include a “fair” amount of extras (such as assignments graded on effort, participation, etc) instead of just grading on their mastery of a topic. Not only does this give hope to students who struggle, it can give a better overall picture of a student.
District – One important component of a student-focused district is that students are placed appropriately in their mathematics classes. In middle school, students are moved along from one grade to the next regardless of whether or not they passed the class (at both Katelyn’s and Jenn’s district). When we move these students forward without the proper skills needed, we are setting them up for failure in future classes. To truly have a student-centered school, we must have students in the correct classes for their abilities. Second, a district should have a consistent system by which they measure growth. In Katelyn’s school this is the MAP test. This test is a better indicator of student progress throughout a year or even the entire high school experience than EOC scores or grades in class.
If we can enact these components, we will have a sound student-focused assessment system, which will allow us to increase and measure student achievement.
–Jen and Katelyn
Individual Post
What can math teachers do to increase mathematics achievement in their schools districts (as a change agent)?
Teachers would agree that one of our main responsibilities to our students is to provide them with equitable opportunities to learn both during and outside of class time. This could mean several different things depending on the student, school, district, etc. Over the last two years at my district, I have created and overseen “Math Help”/ tutoring sessions. As National Honor Society advisor, I work with many of the academic leaders at our high school. As a part of being a member of NHS, students are asked to attend and tutor at these “Math Help” sessions after school in the library. At these times, students from the middle and high school are encouraged to come up and get help with any mathematics homework. Though other subjects are welcome, the main focus is mathematics. This program allows the students who struggle in math the opportunity to ask for help from their peers (very knowledgeable peers!). Not only do the lower level students get the help they need, the more advanced students get these ideas reinforced and become better students as well. This program is a great way for students to get the extra help they need, which in turn will help mathematics achievement.
Another idea is for teachers to collaborate about curriculum. Since all teachers are individuals, the ideas one teacher may have for how to teach a certain standard could be drastically different than another teacher’s ideas. By collaborating and sharing these ideas, we become better educators. Also, teachers should collaborate about the content they teach. It is important for teachers to be on the same page about these things, such as which standards are critical in a unit or which sections in the book can be skipped. By focusing in on what is important (and hopefully agreeing in a department on what is important), students will learn the material more deeply and mathematics achievement will improve.
-Katelyn
In my math department we have spent several years trying different strategies to increase achievement.
1) We have tried several different remedial curriculums. Our school has purchased TPR curriculum (lasted 2 years), Carnegie Curriculum (lasted 2 years), and we even developed an “Algebra Skills” class. Student who were in these remedial classes were taking them at the same time as an Algebra 1 class, so they were in math 2 periods a day. In talking with students in these courses, and in seeing the results of their improvement in the Algebra 1 course, I believe the best method was the Algebra Skills class. This was designed to parallel what was being taught in the Algebra 1 class so that students were seeing the material twice a day, giving them more time to grasp the skills and practice. There was also time to spend on more remedial skills such as fractions. Unfortunately, due to funding, our math department is being downsized and it looks like we will not be including any remedial classes in the schedule for next year, so I am concerned about what will happen with the students who need those support classes.
2) Another thing that our counseling department started is an after school tutor center. The library and computer lab is open every day after school until 4:30. Students can come in and work on any subject they would like. Students who are advanced, are given community service hours to come in and tutor any subject they feel comfortable with. Also, each department (math, science, english, history, etc.) supplies a teacher twice a week to be available as well. The number of student we have attending the tutor center is fairly impressive; usually a minimum of 100 students attend per week and this is the first year that we offered that service.
Most importantly, if teachers want to be a change agent, they have to speak up and take action. Too often, I hear teachers complain about what’s wrong without actually taking the time or effort to think about how it can be fixed. When there is a problem, the department/school needs to discuss solutions, put together a plan, and put it into action.
Individual Post
What can math teachers do to increase mathematics achievement in their school districts (as a change agent)?
To help improve math achievement teachers could do several things. For example, to help students improve their EOC scores, teachers could start an after school program dedicated to covering the material on the tests (both algebra & geometry). Depending on how many other afterschool math programs a school has would determine how often this EOC program would meet. It would be great if it could meet as often as three times a week for at least a month before testing. This would not only get the students into the testing mindset, but also the material would be somewhat fresh in their minds when they tested. Also, this allows teachers more class time to cover the required curriculum instead of teaching to the EOC test. Another option would be to use the EOC practice material on daily entry tasks. This would allow the students access to the material on a daily basis and still allow the class to stay on track/pace with the classroom curriculum. In addition, teachers could collaborate before each chapter/unit/section to discuss common assessments, requirements, and goals for it. This would not only enhance teacher communication, but also maintain common leaning targets among all same subject classes.
To help students who are behind in a math class and need to catch-up, the teachers could develop a system that would not require the students to retake the same class again or in the same manner, but take the class in an at-your-own pace system. This could be done in a couple of way. The students could either use a computer system that allows them to move as fast as they can, or they could use a packet system that would work the same way. This would allow the students to make-up a class in a fast an efficient way. A school could either implement they system by having it occur after school or during the day if the student is able to fit it the in the schedule.
~Lisa~
Group Post
First of all the student s and teacher have to “buy into it” as it stands right now we are just trying to get the students to “pass” so they can graduate. The students also see the assessments as a an obstacle between them and graduation. Then our first step is to change not just our instruction, but also our thinking so we can relay the importance of the assessment to our students. First, the quizzes and tests that we use in the classroom have to be meaningful, they have to be aligned to the standards. Meaningful and timely feedback to the students is of high priority so they know which standard they did well and which one they need to continue working on. As teachers we need to have “extras” available to the students, maybe participation in a group assignment or having a rubric for problem solving, in my district just having a binder with supplies is a plus and we can counted maybe as participation. Lisa and I were discussing how we also need support from the administration because it had happen that a student’s grade has been changed not because it was an “unfair” grade but for other reasons and other students know that if they “know” the right people then they can get the grade they want.
Lisa and Laura
Individual Post
One of the struggles in my district is that our students come to us one to three years behind on average and this fact makes differentiated instruction difficult. Because we don’t have enough teachers to teach remedial classes only the lowest students get to take this classes and the others have to struggle in regular classes. When you are a math teacher and run a diagnostic test on one of this groups is frustrating to see students are lacking the minimum math skills and you still have to teach them at the same time as regular students with the and hope that they will pass the state test. So because there are not enough remedial classes and there is no point to send the students to take the class over and over, we can look at supplemental resources like khan academy to use it at the same time then our regular curriculum. Some people argue that repeating the same class will not help, but what if instead of having the same curriculum or sometime the same teacher, this student was placed in a classroom with completely different strategies? Or make small steps in instruction so the students do not feel overwhelmed and actually feel successful if he can pass parts of the curriculum and not having to confront a test that is worth 80% of their grade? I have come across students who are so happy when they finally pass one of the rubrics that we use that they start literally jumping up and down in the classroom; and is not because they really know how this is going to help them but is the success s that makes them feel that they accomplished something. I believe that by making them feel this way we can start implanting the seed in their believes on how assessments are important in their learning not just as an obstacle that they have to overcome.
Laura