Issue 74: Jan 11, 2010 Connections Newsletter

Better Math Instruction

Debbie Cargill
Jan 11, 2010

Better - Evidence-based Education is a publication of the University of York Institute for Effective Education. A recent issue focused on math. The issue included a review of research on math programs in both elementary and middle/high schools. The conclusions were:

• No evidence that different curricula produce different outcomes.
• Limited evidence that computer-assisted-instruction improves learning.
• Strong evidence that using effective teaching strategies can make a difference.

Kyriacou identified these strategies as effective in raising student achievement:

• Small group work - increases student engagement by providing a safe environment in which students can share ideas and metacognitive strategies - specifically, how the student thinks about a problem-solving task.
• Challenging tasks - encourages students to think at a deeper level.
• Teacher-student and student-student dialogue - provides for more challenging questions and encourages students to explain/justify answers.

Hiebert and Grouws concluded that intentionally and explicitly talking about and working on mathematical relationships and rapid pacing, modeling, and error-free practice were effective strategies for math instruction.

The LEARNING-FOCUSED Comprehensive Math Model K-5 suggests that students should have opportunities to explore, conjecture, explain, reason, and justify during mathematics instruction. The Acquisition Lesson framework encourages the inclusion of research-based strategies that impact student achievement. Every component of the Acquisition Lesson has a significant purpose in facilitating learning and creating understanding for the student.

For more information on the LEARNING-FOCUSED Math Instruction Collection click here.

Common Core Standards Initiative Update

Bill Blynt
Jan 11, 2010

What is the status of the movement to develop a common set of learning standards in the United States? Launched in July 2009, the Common Core State Standards Initiative is a collaborative effort between the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. The goal of this initiative is to develop a common set of core learning standards for Math and English/Language Arts for grades K-12. "The developed standards will be research and evidenced-based, internationally benchmarked, aligned with college and work expectations and include rigorous content and skills". (www.corestandards.org)

Currently supported by all but three (Texas, South Carolina and Alaska) of the fifty states and three territories, the initial draft of the standards is targeted for release in January 2010. Once released to the states, each state will estab lish a timeline and process for review and adoption of the standards. Each state may elect to adopt the standards as written or elect to include additional standards beyond the common core. Each state's adopted set of core standards must represent a minimum of 85% of the common core standards developed by the Common Core Standards Initiative.

The movement to create a common set of core learning standards was motivated by the difficulty educators encountered as they attempted to evaluate student performance across states and countries. As each state developed its own set of standards and corresponding set of assessments, comparing student performance levels between students in different states was extremely difficult if not impossible. Students determined to be proficient in one state could be, based on a different states standards, assessments and criteria, listed as deficient in another state. The level of student performances in specific schools was used as the criteria to determine if a school was successful or not. Whe! n educat ors began to closely examine the multitude of systems in place it became apparent the system was flawed.

The Common Core State Standards Initiative attempts to create a system of common standards that can be used by states as they attempt to establish clear, measurable standards that are aligned to a national benchmark. If all states are able to align their standards to national benchmarks, it is hoped that the discrepancies between student performance and how that performance is judged across states will be reduced. The Initiative has also attempted to examine standards from other countries in an effort to insure that our students will be held to comparable achievement levels. It is hoped that this alignment provides our students with the opportunity to compete for high-wage, high-skill jobs in a knowledge-based economy.

The overall goal of the Common Core Standards Initiative is to develop a set of standards that clearly identifies the expectations th at students must meet. They must articulate what teachers are expected to teach and what students are expected to learn. These expectations must help prepare students with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful in college and careers. Once created and adopted, states must then create a fair system to judge student performance that can extent across state and national borders. The task of the Initiative is a beginning. Once completed, each state must use the work as a jumping off point in developing a system in their own state that leads to renewed clarity of education expectations for teachers, students and parents. The curriculum must be focused and aligned to internationally benchmarked standards. Instructional goals must be set at high levels with a focus on promoting deep understanding of critical content. Finally, a system of judgment must be developed that provides an opportunity to compare and evaluate student achievement across states that is fair to all .

Sources:
www.corestandards.org
www.ccsso.org
District Administration:  October, 2009

Inspiration for Extending Thinking Tasks

Carol Gardner
Jan 11, 2010

"I know how crucial it is to go beyond acquisition to tasks that require my students to extend their thinking, but I just need more ideas for doing so. Where do we find these types of assignments?" This is a common question often asked in workshops and through e-mail to our website. There are several options.

Choosing or creating good Extending Thinking tasks depends first on being clear about what we want students to understand more deeply as a result of completing the assignment. Once this decision has been made we then select a thinking strategy that will best help us meet that objective. For example, if students need to have a deeper understanding of the causes and effects of a particular event, we might consider a task that requires students to analyze perspectives related to the event. If we want students to carefully analyze the particular steps in a process, then error analysis would be a good choice. Often we want students to learn content that has a pattern that is similar to other information. In this case abstracting would work well. If we want students to recognize distinctions among topics, then comparing and contrasting would be a logical choice.

Once the desired outcomes of the lesson and the appropriate thinking strategy have both been identified, we can begin getting ideas for tasks. It's not necessary to always develop these from scratch. Connecting Extending Thinking includes many extending lessons easily adapted for multiple concepts. For example, a lesson looking at Westward Expansion from multiple perspectives could be adapted for another period of history. An inductive lesson related to language devices in a particular text could easily be used as a model for developing a similar task tied to another text. A lesson using deductive reasoning to solve long division could certainly be adapted to apply to another operation.

Textbooks and other teacher resource materials also typically offer higher level thinking tasks, often labeled as extensions. Again these can be used as they are or adapted for a particular context. For example, a fourth grade teacher wanted to deepen his students' understanding of fractional relationships. He selected deductive reasoning as an appropriate thinking strategy. He discovered an idea in his teacher's edition that asked students to use clues to solve riddles to determine a particular fraction. He adapted the task by giving students several examples to solve and then had them create their ow n riddles.

The WritingFix website sponsored by the Northern Nevada Writing Project (writingfix.com) has a wealth of teacher ideas and lessons for extending thinking through writing across the curriculum. For example, in the lesson Are Artists Good Neighbors?, students write letters comparing and contrasting conflicting artistic styles. In another lesson, Your Glorious Gene Pool, students write a poem for two voices describing their genetic makeup from their own perspective and from that of a geneticist.

Finally, since the best inspiration comes from fellow teachers, LEARNING-FOCUSED Connections invites you to share descriptions of the great Extending Thinking assignments and lessons you have used successfully with your students. We look forward to hearing from you. Please send ideas to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Insert Extending Thinking ideas in the subject line.