Questions for Math Coordinators - NYC HOLD



Math Questions

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Curriculum

|Which curriculum materials are predominantly used in your district at elementary, middle, and high school levels? |

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|My name is David Klein. I am a professor of mathematics at California State University, Northridge, and a national advisor for NYC HOLD. I have been asked |

|by Elizabeth Carson to respond to this questionnaire. Some of my answers are based on my experience as a full time consultant and trainer for the Los Angeles |

|County Office of Education during a 12 month period beginning in July 1999. |

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|In Los Angeles Unified School District (my local school district), California state approved math books are used in K-8 in accordance with CA state policy. |

|At the high school level, textbooks for Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II, precalculus, and beyond are selected by local school districts largely on the basis |

|of their alignment with California's rigorous and demanding mathematics standards. |

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|More specifically, in grades K-5 in LAUSD, two series in wide use are Scott Foresman CA Mathematics Copyright © 2001, and Harcourt Math Copyright © 2002. |

|Other California state adopted programs used by districts in the state are listed at: (For a concise |

|listing, see also: ) |

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|Three textbook series are in wide use at the middle school level in Los Angeles and throughout California. These programs are listed at: |

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|Detailed evaluations by a committee of mathematicians appointed by the CA State Board of Education are also available at the above site. Many high schools |

|use textbooks that are part of a series of books that begin with the middle school texts listed at . |

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|Which curriculum materials are working and how do you know (please cite student achievement data as evidence)? Which curriculum materials are not working and|

|why? Which curriculum materials would you recommend elementary, middle, and high school levels and why? |

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|Student achievement has increased significantly in California with the classroom use of state approved math books. The site below provides a useful data |

|summary, following cohorts of students from 1998 to 2002. |

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|More detailed data is available at: |

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|Because of the hierarchical nature of mathematics, and the strong dependence at any grade level on prerequisites, the greatest gains have been made by |

|students who were in elementary school starting in 1998. This is because those younger students have benefited the most from coherent and structured |

|instruction in mathematics. |

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|Curricular materials that claimed alignment with the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), such as MathLand, TERC, Quest 2000, Connected Math, |

|IMP, CPM, and others of this type left California students poorly prepared and resulted in state policy changes currently underway. |

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|At the high school level, data for Los Angeles students indicates that students of all backgrounds fare better under classical mathematical treatments rather |

|than the so-called integrated programs. This data is available at: |

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|What should be done to ensure a more coherent PK-12 numeracy approach to curriculum? |

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|I was commissioned by the Brookings Institution to write a report on Los Angeles elementary schools successful in teaching mathematics. That report, High |

|Achievement in Mathematics: Lessons from Three Los Angeles Elementary Schools, will be published in the near future, but it is currently available at: |

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|This report identifies policies of schools that contribute to higher achievement in mathematics, with particular attention given to the role of the principal |

|of the school. Also identified are policies of school districts that impede mathematics achievement. |

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|It is particularly important for school administrators to identify successful, and mathematically knowledgeable teachers to serve as mathematics education |

|advisors and coaches. It is all too typical for mathematically weak teachers to be placed in such positions as a reward for their willingness to follow |

|education fads. This tendency is discussed in the above referenced report. It is a matter of great importance for student achievement in mathematics. |

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|I also suggest the abandonment of weak mathematics programs such as TERC and Connected Math. These programs have been strongly criticized by mathematicians |

|across the country for lack of intellectual content, including lack of basic skills development and poor explanations of mathematical concepts. |

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|A number of better programs are available. Among these are the California approved math books and the Singaporean math books. Singapore was the top ranked |

|nation worldwide for mathematics achievement of students, and the textbooks used there are excellent. |

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District #

Instruction

|Which instructional practices are predominantly used in your district at elementary, middle, and high school levels? |

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|Los Angeles Unified School District is so large that there are many different kinds of instructional strategies. However, in recent years and concomitantly |

|with rising test scores, there has been a greater focus on direct instruction and teaching coherently to the state standards. |

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|Which instructional practices are working and how do you know (please cite student achievement data as evidence)? |

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|Please see my responses to questions above. |

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|Which instructional practices are not working and why? |

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|Discovery learning in mathematics can easily interfere with coherent instruction. It is time consuming and inefficient at best. In the hands of teachers who|

|don't have absolute mastery of the subject, discovery learning projects can cause educational damage to children. |

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District #

Assessment

|Does your district use the GROW reports? What are the limitations of these reports? How should they be modified to be more useful? |

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|I'm not qualified to answer this question. |

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|Besides the NYS and NYC assessments, what specific data is collected to monitor student achievement in numeracy? How is this data used? |

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|I'm not qualified to answer this question. |

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|What are your suggestions to improve PK-12 assessment practices? |

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|One of the dangers of assessment is doing it too often. Too many assessments takes time away from instruction. An even greater danger is that poorly |

|designed assessments can drive instruction negatively. Assessments should focus on knowledge of mathematical content, facility in calculation and problem |

|solving. Unfortunately, some faddish project-oriented assessments focus on the process of problem solving and include poorly worded, open ended questions. |

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|The California STAR exam is an example of a good assessment. Achieve, Inc. also has some good sample problems for middle school students. |

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District #

Support Structures

|What are your district’s intervention strategies and programs for struggling students? How are struggling students identified? |

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|The basic strategy in Los Angeles is to try to help students complete Algebra I starting in 8th grade. For struggling students, Algebra I is stretched out as|

|a two year course (whereas for other students it is a one year course). Struggling students are identified by test scores and grades. |

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|Which of these strategies work and how do you know (please cite student achievement data as evidence)? Which of these strategies do not work and why? |

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|The strategy described for the previous question does not work well. The main reason students have difficulty with algebra is that they never learned |

|arithmetic properly. Teaching the algebra at a slower rate without the arithmetic prerequisites does not succeed for obvious reasons. Unfortunately, ideology|

|drives this policy much more than common sense. The goal of "algebra for all" by 8th grade sounds good, but it is essential to provide the prerequisites for |

|algebra before students study algebra. The district is providing elementary school students with those prerequisites now, but a generation of students, now |

|in middle school and high school, were deprived of essential arithmetic skills when NCTM style math programs like TERC, Connected Math Project, MathLand, |

|Everyday Math, etc. were imposed on teachers. |

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|What else do you think needs to be done to support struggling students in numeracy? |

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|An excellent resource for struggling students is the Saxon Mathematics series of textbooks. While the Saxon books are used in some elite private schools for |

|high achieving students, those books are particularly helpful to struggling students because of the constant review imbedded in the exercises. The Saxon |

|mathematics program includes materials specifically designed for struggling students. |

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District #

ELL Students

|What support structures exist in your district to ensure the achievement of ELL students? Who makes the decisions around support structures? |

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|I'm not qualified to answer this question. |

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|Which of these strategies work and how do you know (please cite student achievement data as evidence)? |

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|I'm not qualified to answer this question. |

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|Which of these strategies do not work? Why? |

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|I'm not qualified to answer this question. |

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Students with Special Needs

|What support structures exist in your district to ensure the achievement of students with special needs? Who makes the decisions around support structures? |

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|I'm not qualified to answer this question. |

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|Which of these strategies work and how do you know (please cite student achievement data as evidence)? |

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|I'm not qualified to answer this question. |

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|Which of these strategies do not work? Why? |

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|I'm not qualified to answer this question. |

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District #

Family Numeracy

|How does your district engage with parents in relation to numeracy? |

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|I can provide only limited information on this question. Parents are expected guide their children to do homework assignments. In some cases, including |

|assignments for students in gifted classes, homework projects are extensive and of necessity involve parents for procurement of materials to complete |

|assignments. This is more often the case in science classes than math classes. |

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|Which of these strategies work and how do you know? |

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|There are approximately 20,000 homeless children who are students in Los Angeles Unified School District. A child's capacity to deal with homework is |

|partially dependent on circumstances in the home (or lack of a home). While homework is an essential part of mathematics education, aimless projects can |

|cause great distress and damage for these children. It is important that basic skill instruction be addressed during class time and not relegated solely to |

|parents. |

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|What issues do parents raise and how do you address those issues? What else should your district be doing around family numeracy? |

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|I have no response for this question. |

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District #

Professional Development

|What are the professional development structures that are in place in your district? Which of these are effective and how do you know? |

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|My comments on professional development appear in response to question 3 below. |

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|What do you think are the most pressing staff development needs in your district? Why? |

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|My comments on professional development appear in response to question 3 below. |

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|In addition to increased time, funding, and access to space, what recommendations would you make to the DOE regarding professional development? |

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|Most professional development programs for math teachers are of such low quality that they can cause more harm than good. When teachers are directed to use |

|poorly designed discovery learning methods (as is typical), it is the students in the end who are harmed. Professional development is best focused on |

|mathematics content for teachers, rather than on pedagogical fashions popular in education colleges. Using sound textbooks can go a long way in providing |

|teachers with stronger content knowledge. One reason for poorly designed inservices for teachers is that the designers/coordinators of the inservices are |

|often mathematically incompetent. For further explanation on this phenomenon, see |

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Professional Development

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|How many mathematics specialists/staff developers are in your district at the elementary school level? |

|How many elementary schools do you have? |

|How many mathematics specialists/staff developers are in your district at the middle school level? |

|How many middle schools do you have? |

|How many mathematics specialists/staff developers are in your district at the high school level? |

|How many high schools do you have? |

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|I do not know the answers to these questions. |

|What percentage of the time are math specialists/staff developers in classrooms or with teachers? |

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|I do not know. |

|How are math specialists/staff developers selected? By whom? Using what criteria? |

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|I do not know. |

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| What training do math specialists/staff developers receive? |

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|I do not know. |

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