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Mathematics Professional Development

The K-12 Alliance Mathematics Professional Development programs enhance teacher mathematics content knowledge and pedagogical skills. Programs address mathematical strands, such as number sense and algebraic thinking, for teachers in grades K-12. Programs emphasize understanding mathematic concepts, building mathematical skills, and developing mathematical reasoning.



Cohort 3: January 2006 through September 2009
Contact: Karen Cerwin, K-12 Alliance Regional Director and Nettie Roberts, Palm Springs Unified School District (nroberts@psusd.us)
The Mathematics Opens Doors program was a partnership between Palm Springs Unified School District, California State University San Bernardino, College of the Dessert Community College, and the K-12 Alliance. Support services were provided to 34 teachers in grade 5 with 60 hours of intensive and 24 hours of follow-up professional development activities. An additional 3 teachers received mentoring to implement the TLC with teachers at the school that were unable to participate in the program. The program serviced 1,130 students.

Teacher participants increased their mathematics content knowledge after participating in each of the summer institutes. For example, 41 percent (41%) of the participating teachers made significant gains based on the 2007 pre-post assessments and 45 percent (45%) of participating teachers made significant gains based on the 2008 pre-post assessments. In addition, TLC survey responses indicated that teachers implemented instructional practices that are deemed "best practices." In particular, teachers learned the value of questioning strategies and increasingly integrated these into their teaching. By the end of the program, the majority of teachers asked students to explain their thinking and understanding before, during, and after instruction of a specific mathematics concept.

Students in teacher participants' classrooms (treatment group) also enhanced their science learning. Students in the treatment group increased their mathematics content knowledge as compared to students whose teachers did not participate in the program (control group). For instance, 5th graders in the treatment group increased their performance from pre-assessment to post-assessment by 18 percentage points. In contrast, 5th grade students in control group made a 15-percentage point increase. This difference was statistically significant. In addition, the number of students (treatment group) who could only answer a few questions correctly decreased by 32 percent (32%), meaning that the lowest-performing students answered many more questions correctly in the post-test.

Cohort 4: January 2007 through September 2010
Contact: Diane Carnahan, K-12 Alliance Regional Director and Sylvia Turner Stockton Unified School District (sturner@lusd.net)
The Lincoln Achievement Mathematics Partnership program is a cooperative undertaking among Lincoln Unified School District, University of the Pacific, San Joaquin Delta College, San Joaquin County Office of Education, and the K-12 Alliance. professional development activities for the 69 participating teachers have been divided into 80 hours of intensive and 24 hours of follow-up support. Additionally, two teachers are being mentored to lead professional development efforts in the district to reach teachers who were not fortunate enough to participate in the three-year grant. The 4,030 student in grades 5, 6, 7, and Algebra are benefiting from participating teachers' focus on enhancing their mathematics content and related pedagogical content knowledge.

The program's success is evident in participating teachers' gain in mathematics content knowledge and in pedagogical content knowledge. In general, teachers' scores were statistically significantly higher on the post-test, compared to their pre-test scores. For example, in 2008, teachers' mean-scaled score on the pre-test in 2007 was 22.9, while the mean-scale score on the post-test was 27.1. This difference is statistically significant. Classroom visitations revealed that all participating teachers were implementing elements of the 5E lesson. Specifically, the "Engage" component of the 5E was evident in the overwhelming majority of classrooms that have been visited. In addition, classroom visits unEarthed that the cognitive demand of math lessons was low and emphasized procedures without connections; for example, following algorithms with a focus on correct answers. As a result, the program has been modified to provide teachers with the necessary tools to design lessons that place a higher cognitive demand on students.

On the whole, students in teacher participants' classrooms (treatment group) are outperforming students whose teachers are not participating in the program (control group). For example, 50 percent (50%) of the students in the treatment groups scored Proficient or Advanced in Grade 5-Math, Grade 7-PreAlgebra, Grade 8-Algebra Readiness, and Grade 9-General Math 2. Assessment data from the district's local benchmarks support the observed achievement in mathematics for students in the treatment group. The students in treatment groups for grades 5, 7, 8, and Algebra 1 made statistically significant gains on local mathematics benchmarks compared to the control group. The only treatment group that did not outperform the control group was 6th grade.

Cohort 4: January 2007 through September 2010
Contact: Jo Topps, K-12 Alliance Regional Director and Julie Reynoso, Pasadena Unified School District (jreynoso@pusd.us)
The Pasadena Math Pipeline is a common undertaking of the Pasadena Unified School District, California Polytechnic University Pomona, and the K-12 Alliance. The 40 teacher participants are receiving both intensive (80 hours) and follow-up (24 hours) professional development support. Another five teachers are being mentored to provide leadership to the district by maintaining and extending services to other teachers interested in enhancing their mathematics instruction. The program is servicing 2,200 students in grades 5, 6, 7, or enrolled in Algebra.

Cohort 5: January 2008 through September 2011
Contact: Jody Skidmore Sherriff, K-12 Alliance Regional Director and Tom Forbes, Shasta County Office of Education (tforbes@shastacoe.org)
The Shasta County Math Partnership is a cooperative venture of the Shasta County Office of Education, various districts in Shasta County, Shasta College, and the K-12 Alliance. The 60 teachers are participating in 60 hours of intensive and 24 hours of follow-up professional development. Another 3 teachers are learning how to facilitate the Teaching Learning Collaborative in order to continue the lesson studies after the grant concludes. The 2, 000 4th - 8th graders who are being serviced by this program are benefiting from improved instructional practices implemented by their teachers.

Cohort 6: January 2009 through September 2012
Contact: Karen Cerwin, K-12 Alliance Regional Director and Kevin Erickson, Coachella Valley Unified School District (kerickson@coachella.k12.ca.us)
The Success in Understanding Math is an alliance among the Coachella Valley Unified School District, the College of the Desert, California State University, San Bernardino, and the K-12 Alliance. Currently 68 teachers are receiving support through their participation in 64 intensive hours and 24 follow-up hours of professional development. The additional 6 teachers being trained to be teacher leaders will lead the effort in building the district's capacity to deliver instructional support services to other interested teachers once the program comes to a close. This program is servicing a total of 4,500 students.

At the moment there is no evaluation data to report. The first evaluation report should be finalized by December of 2009.