Designing Schools and Districts to Support Mathematics Teachers’ Ongoing Learning

1. Designing Schools and Districts to Support Mathematics Teachers’ Ongoing Learning Paul Cobb, Thomas Smith, Kara, Jackson, Erin Henrick, et al.

2. Project Overview • What does it take to support mathematics teachers’ development of ambitious forms of instruction on a large scale? • Four large urban districts • Middleschool + inquiry oriented instruction • What does it take to support a high-quality implementation of CMP2? • Long-term goal: Theory of action for district-wide instructional improvement in mathematics

3. Project Overview • October: Document districts’ improvement strategies • Interview district leaders • January – March: Document how districts’ strategies are actually playing out in schools and classrooms • 6-10 middle-grades schools in each district 30 mathematics teachers

4. Project Overview • Interviews - teachers, coaches, school leaders, and district leaders • On-line survey - teachers, coaches, school leaders • LMT – teachers and coaches • Video-recordings of two consecutive mathematics lessons • Video-recordings of pull-out teacher professional development • Audio-recordings of teacher collaborative planning meetings • On-line network survey – all mathematics teachers

5. Project Overview • February – April: Analyze the interviews to assess and explain how improvement strategies are playing out • May: Present feedback report to districts • Actionable recommendations • Co-designers with district leaders • Design experiment • Formal hypothesis testing

6. Coherent Instructional System • Explicit goals for students’ mathematical learning • Goals for teachers’ learning – concrete instructional practices • Instructional materials, pacing guides, curriculum frameworks, etc. designed to support teachers’ development of the above practices • Pull-out teacher PD that focuses on the specific practices, is organized around the above materials, and is sustained over time • Teacher collaborative time that centers on practices that have been the focus of work in pull-out PD • Assessments that inform: • Ongoing improvement of mainstream instruction • Identification of students who are currently struggling and require additional support

7. Teacher Networks • Doing mathematics problems together with discussion of different solution strategies • Discussing different ways students are likely to solve tasks • Discussing why some students didn’t learn as expected in a lesson in order to plan for future instruction • Analyzing examples of student work in order to adjust instruction • Analyzing examples of student work to understand the different ways that students solve problems • Discussing how to make use of student solution strategies in whole class mathematical discussions • Discussing pacing • Analyzing student work to see if students “got it” • Discussing what materials to sue for a lesson • After a lesson, sharing whether students “got it” • Sharing materials or activities • Updating one another on a student or students’ progress in mathematics • Other (please specify)

8. Selection of Colleagues • Teacher networks are emergent phenomena • Districts can develop policies to influence the conditions in which networks emerge • Regularly scheduled time for collaboration

9. Selection of Colleagues • Future analyses: • Formal role, grade level, physical proximity, gender, race/ethnicity, peer’s expertise • Measures of expertise: IQA, LMT, HQMI, SMC • What influences depth of interactions about instruction?

10. Influence of Interactions on Knowledge and Practice • Interactions with colleagues whose MKT deeper supports significant improvements in own MKT • Interactions with colleagues whose instructional practices are more sophisticated supports significant improvements in own practices • Future analyses: • Relationship between types of interactions and forms of expertise

11. Mathematics Coaches • Mathematics coach in each middle school • Half-time release from teaching • Only slightly more advanced than the teachers they are expected to support • Extensive professional development • CMP2 + Cognitive Coaching

12. Mathematics Coaches • Extent to which teachers turn to the coach for advice influenced by: • Perception of coach’s experience as a teacher • Regularly scheduled time to for the coach to work with groups of teachers

13. Mathematics Coaching • Coach’s relationship with principal • Could describe coach’s role in assisting teachers in detail • Attend collaborative planning meetings • Extensive observations of teachers’ instruction • Shared responsibility for instructional improvement

14. School Leaders • A wide range of views on what school leaders need to know and be able to do: • MKT, student mathematical learning, high-quality mathematics instruction, teacher learning • Coach mathematics teachers • General principles of high-quality inquiry-oriented instruction • Observe and provide feedback

15. School Leaders • Interviews – vision of high-quality mathematics instruction • Form rather than function views • Consistent with teachers’ reports of the feedback they receive from school leaders • Extensive professional development • Focused on general, content-free characteristics of high-quality instruction

16. School Leaders • 3 half-day sessions • Distinguish between high and low cognitive demand mathematics tasks • Distinguish between high- and low- quality class discussions • Collaborate with district mathematics coaches to develop school plans for supporting teachers’ learning

17. District Leaders • Common agenda for mathematics teaching and learning across district central office units • Curriculum and Instruction, and Leadership

18. District Leaders • Instructional management • Increase student achievement in mathematics • Instructional improvement • Improve quality of mathematics teachers’ instructional practices