In this journey of the work, we have embraced the mantra “possibly wrong and definitely incomplete.”
In the fall of 2022, Two Chicks & Arithmetic and Shacklette Elementary School in Louisville, Kentucky established a partnership to impact student math achievement. Working with the Principal and the Academic Instructional Coach, a Math Team was established. The Math Team was charged with working collaboratively to determine root causes of the systems' results. We established and tested change ideas throughout the school year. This page is our journey through the process.
Rationale
In 2021-22, students performed lower than the district and state averages in mathematics. Students at the school demonstrated 26% proficiency on the state assessment in the spring of 2022. The district proficiency average is 38% and the state district proficiency average is 45%. The school participates in a district-wide screener, NWEA’s Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), three times a year for reading and math. Fall 2022 scores indicated that 66% of students in second through fifth grades performed low to low average with the Kentucky Academic Standards. In items associated, with numbers and operations and measurement and data, 68% of students in both categories performed low to low average. In summary, over half the student population in grades two through five lacked proficiency in grade-level mathematics standards.
2022 Kentucky Summative Assessment Data
U.S. EdReports Evaluation of Illustrative Mathematics
After data was analyzed, a fishbone was created to help organize teacher thoughts. The fishbone is representative of the conversation had with teachers. The team will revisit this work prior the start of the 2023-24 school year.
AIM Statement
Fall 2022 NWEA Measures of Academic Progress
Fall 2022 Teacher Empathy Interviews
The math team developed an initial aim statement, By spring 2023, reduce by 25% the number of students who demonstrate low to low average skills in numbers and operations.
Leadership also determined a key leverage point in this work would include, by spring 2023, increase teacher knowledge and pedagogy in the 8 Effective Math Teaching practices by 25%.
The team worked together to determine root causes of the problem. Tools such as the “Circle of Control” & the “Five Why’s” were used. The team worked together to complete a driver diagram. Time was a barrier to the work, the initial diagram was incomplete and disorganized.
After working with the math team, Two Chicks and the administration team worked together to complete a driver diagram that would address the teacher input, but also help to facilitate continuous improvement. Two Chicks and the Leadership Team also developed an AIM statement to address the teachers role in the work.
Areas circled on the driver diagram, indicate focus points in the 2022-2023 school year.
The driver diagram conveys that there are many opportunities for learning and improvement.
Plan, Do, Study, Act
Teachers agreed their focus would include incorporating Number Talks in their classroom two to three days a week. A PDSA was completed to track the learning of this work. One cycle was completed. Additional cycles will be added in the 2023-24 school year. PDSA is linked here.
Theory of Improvement
Data & Measures
Walkthrough Data
The Learning
The Coaching Process is a structured approach to professional development helping teachers improve their teaching practice. The process includes modeling, observation, feedback, and reflection. The Two Chicks modeled at Shacklette how to effectively ensure a curriculum lesson is meeting the depth and rigor of the standards, scaffolding strategies, and assessment alignment. This process supported Shacklette teachers at all stages of their careers from novice to experienced. The Coaching Processes were repeated multiple times throughout the school year, allowing teachers to continuously improve their teaching practices.
Walkthroughs were completed in the Fall 2022 and in the Spring 2023. The Effective Teaching Look Fors: Tool 2.8" from Everything You Need for Mathematics Coaching: Tools, Plans, and a Process That Works for Any Instructional Leader was used to capture data on the NCTM's 8 Effective Math Teaching Practices. The table below references increases in the areas of:
Use and connect mathematical representations
Facilitate meaningful mathematical discourse
Pose purposeful questions
Build procedural fluency from conceptual understanding
Support productive struggle in learning mathematics
Elicit and use evidence of student thinking
Overall, we met our AIM with a 54% increase of the 8 Mathematical Teaching Practices.
NWEA Measures of Academic Progress Scores
MAP was administered in the Fall 2022 & Spring 2023 measuring various domains in mathematics skills. The math team created an AIM statement, by spring 2023, we will reduce by 25% the number of students who demonstrate low to low average skills in numbers and operations. Students who scored low to low average were 68% in the fall, this number fell to 59% in the spring. This did not meet our AIM statement. However, a decrease of 11% was exhibited.
