We have teamed up with Math Solutions, the nation’s leading provider of math professional development, to deliver high-quality learning resources and program implementation services that support system-wide improvements in math instruction.
Our innovative professional learning opportunities use research-based foundations to build student skills and conceptual understanding, while surrounding teachers with the support they need.
Teachers need to know the content that they teach deeply and flexibly enough to understand various solution paths and students’ reasoning.
It is completely natural for us to assume that different students will approach literature interpretation in different ways based on their backgrounds, knowledge, and experiences, yet when it comes to mathematics, we tend to expect all students to solve problems in exactly the same way. But as classrooms become more diverse, we need to become more flexible as educators in order to make math accessible for all students. This means knowing the content we teach deeply and flexibly enough to understand students’ reasoning and misconceptions—to be able to ask the right next question that facilitates and builds understanding.
Most of mathematics involves relationships, concepts, and skills rooted in logic. Students learn these ideas by making sense of them through interactions with materials and contexts. Teachers need instructional strategies in order to help students understand and use reasoning with problems, make sense of new learning, and communicate their thinking to others.
Teachers need to recognize each student’s strengths and weaknesses, content knowledge, reasoning strategies, and misconceptions.
Understanding what students know is central to the process of teaching and learning. Assessment generally falls into two categories—summative (assessment OF learning) and formative (assessment FOR learning). To effectively plan and differentiate instruction, educators need to be able to acquire and interpret information about each student’s understanding and reasoning process through listening, observing, examining, and guided questioning.
We have been at the forefront of improving literacy and math achievement for 95 years and know that good teachers are constantly learning, honing their skills, and getting better at their craft. Supporting them, as well as leaders and coaches, in this process is the key to success—and leads to improved program outcomes and a reduction in teacher turnover.
Our programs include built-in supports, but the most successful districts develop a long-term plan for in-classroom support in areas such as analyzing assessment data, monitoring fidelity of implementation, improving instructional practices, and using data to differentiate instruction.
Achieving whole-school and-district success in literacy and math is typically a multiyear process. And we can help.
