Researchers and Practitioners Collaborating to Improve Math Outcomes

• In Event: Collaborating With Schools and Using Data to Reduce Inequities in Student Outcomes

Abstract

Objectives: This presentation describes a Network for School Improvement (NSI) focused on improving secondary student math outcomes, particularly for traditionally underserved students. Researchers and practitioners use data to specify a common aim, identify research-based strategies to make progress on that aim, test and refine those strategies using inquiry cycles, share learning, and track progress over time. The research team is the intermediary of the NSI, responsible for designing and facilitating all network activities. The team draws on evaluation methods to support the inquiry cycles, track network progress, and make improvements to the inquiry work and overarching network activities.

Perspectives: The network aims to increase the percentage of Black and Latino students and students from all races experiencing poverty who are proficient in math by the end of 10th grade. Together, researchers and network participants identified improving math instruction as a key driver for making progress on the aim.
Drawing on research in math education, researchers and network members decided to focus on improving teachers’ use of questioning and discourse facilitation strategies designed to (a) emphasize math understanding as well as fluency and (b) encourage students to explain their math reasoning and respond to other students’ thinking. Research shows that using questioning and discourse in these ways is associated positively with student achievement (Blazar, 2015; Chaplin et al., 2014; Walters et al., 2014) and with improved outcomes for traditionally underserved students (Boaler, 1998; Moschkovich, 2013; NCTM, 2018; Turner et al., 2013; Wilson et al., 2019).
As the intermediary, the research team identifies promising instructional routines that incorporate evidence-based questioning and discourse facilitation strategies and (a) supports teachers’ use of inquiry cycles to test and refine those routines, (b) engages district and school leaders in the inquiry process, and (c) uses data to inform improvements in the inquiry cycles, refine network structures, and evaluate network progress in reaching the aim.

Methods and Data: Teachers conduct at least 8 inquiry cycles per year. Each cycle involves developing a plan for implementing an evidence-based instructional routine in an upcoming lesson, using the routine, collecting student perspectives of the routine and student math work at the end of the lesson, analyzing the data collected, and using the analyses to identify refinements for the next inquiry cycle. As the intermediary, the researchers meet regularly with (a) teachers to plan the inquiry cycles, support data analysis, and help teachers use the analysis to inform improvement and (b) district and school leaders to support the inquiry work. The researchers also collect and analyze student math benchmark and end-of-year test scores, student survey data on math identity and experience in math class, and teacher survey and interview data on perspectives of network activities and math instruction.

Results and Significance: The network continues to exceed its yearly targets for math proficiency. Analysis of the student survey data continues to find growth in students perceived math identity and improved experience in math class each year. Teachers report that the network is making a difference for their math instruction and student learning.

Author

• Toni M. Smith, American Institutes for Research