During
2006, the Vermont
Mathematics Partnership (VMP),
a Cohort I Math and Science Partnership project, built
significantly upon its first three years of foundational
research, course and materials development, and work with preK-12
partner schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs). As
VMP strategies matured, and as sufficient numbers of
teachers and administrators from partner schools increased their
expertise in mathematics content, pedagogy, assessment and
leadership, the infrastructure was built for partner schools to
engage in more sophisticated, systematic use of evidence to
improve mathematics teaching and learning.
In
2003, its first summer, VMP offered one graduate course at one
partner school. During the summer of 2006, VMP offered
across Vermont eleven graduate courses developed and taught by
teams of mathematicians, mathematics educators, teacher leaders
and assessment specialists. Since 2003, VMP has offered
more than 60 graduate courses for primary, elementary, middle
school and secondary mathematics teachers. To date, there
have been more than 1300 enrollments in these VMP offerings,
nearly triple the project’s original estimate. In the
beginning of VMP’s work, some participants balked at the high
standards, claiming that VMP’s requirements were much higher
than those to which they were accustomed in other graduate
courses in mathematics education – particularly summer
courses. Most of these courses are now full and have waiting
lists, with many teachers returning as “repeat customers.”
Participating teachers demonstrate statistically significant
gains in their content knowledge and knowledge for teaching, as
measured by pre- and post- inventories of assessment items
designed by the MSP Learning Mathematics for Teaching
project at the University of Michigan.
VMP
teachers and IHE faculty regularly use day-to-day, formative
assessment to guide and improve instruction. VMP staff have
supported school teams in the development of common local
assessments and comprehensive assessment systems to promote more
equitable access to mathematics learning for all students. These
tools allow teachers to closely monitor their students’
understanding of important mathematical concepts and to modify
their day-to-day instruction based on evidence of student
understanding. In follow-up surveys, nearly all teachers
report that this experience has had a major impact on their
teaching and that they are applying formative assessment
strategies to other mathematics content areas.
Evidence
of improved teaching and learning in mathematics is now
documented in improved student performance. In ongoing,
formative assessment pilot studies with approximately 65
elementary teachers and over 1000 students, data analyses
indicate that teachers who use the VMP’s ongoing assessment
tools and strategies are able to identify areas of student
weakness and focus instruction more appropriately and
strategically, thus improving student learning and demonstrating
statistically significant gains at all grade levels (grades 2, 3,
4 and 5). A specific example can be found in the improved
understanding of fractions, where, for 338 fourth grade students
who took pre-assessments of their understanding of fractions,
38.2 percent made errors that demonstrated inappropriate use of
whole number reasoning. Classroom instruction was informed
by this data, with participating teachers using many different
mathematics programs and different teaching strategies. In
post-assessments, only 7.4 percent of the students made errors
that demonstrated inappropriate use of whole numbers. Teachers
and administrators consistently report that students whose
teachers have used systematic, formative assessment enter
subsequent grades with much deeper levels of understanding of
important mathematical concepts than in previous years.
Partners:
Hartford School District (54), Barre Supervisory Union (61),
Milton Town School District (10), South Burlington School
District (16)
