What is Compelling in Educative Curriculum Materials for Secondary Mathematics Educators of English Learners?

• In Event: Ecologically Just Conditions for Secondary Multilingual English Learners: Course Access, Teacher Collaboration, Curriculum, and Instruction

Abstract

Objectives & Theoretical Perspectives
This empirical study focuses on teachers’ implementation, actions, and adaptations during a three-week summer math bridge course introducing English Learners to cross-cutting concepts of high school mathematics. We identify what might be most compelling to include in educative materials targeted for teachers (Davis et al., 2017), while enhancing the usability and feasibility of these materials in authentic educational settings.
Our design approach draws upon frameworks in mathematics education that distinguish curriculum as “delivery mechanism” from materials that serve as a “thinking tool” to foster educator reasoning (Choppin et al., 2022). The “thinking tool” orientation of curriculum materials is better aligned with an ecological/sociocultural approach to pedagogical reasoning, as it positions teachers not as “following” a curriculum, but as participants in complex, multilayered systems in which they collaborate with colleagues as they make sense of instructional practice (van Lier, 2004).

Methods & Data Sources
This study draws upon data collected from a total of four field trials in three districts and a pilot study comprising 12 sections of students across two to three weeks of classroom instruction during three summers. Part of the broader iterative development design was to engage in cycles of rapid inquiry, focused on descriptive questions about student work with the materials as well as improvement questions focused on the effectiveness of the materials and activities as designed. This study draws primarily from the latter set of questions, which are focused on teachers’ insights and feedback about what would have been helpful to understand before they implemented lessons and activities with students.
Primary data collection for this study included classroom observations, developer field notes, and teacher focus groups and reflections. The team analyzed these data iteratively to directly inform the refinement of curriculum materials. Analytic memos guided both the refinement of specific materials and instructions as well as the overarching design principles.

Results
We present insights into what educative features of the curriculum appeared to have the greatest potential to expand teacher expertise before, during, and after they teach students. We also describe how these insights led to iterative development of professional development resources that will be offered to teachers using the curriculum in the future. Specifically, we explain how this professional development will be designed to allow teachers to discuss, analyze, and make connections to the different artifacts. These would include: 1) student writing samples; 2) photos of student work in the moment (e.g., their emerging categories of sorting different mathematical objects); 3) photos of public artifacts highlighted by the teacher, such as posters that provide “example spaces” (Watson & Mason, 2005); and 4) transcripts of students’ small-group and whole-group interactions with their peers and teachers.

Significance
Given the persistently lower expectations and barriers to participation in rigorous mathematics for English Learners, teachers need more tools and opportunities to engage with materials that challenge and support English Learners in ambitious mathematical learning. The revised educative materials offer explicit guidance and structured pedagogical decision-making to expand educator capacity to incorporate language effectively.

Authors

• Haiwen Chu, WestEd

• Leslie Hamburger, WestEd