A few words on mathematics education leadership in the

Chicago Public Schools

Urban Mathematics Education Leadership AcademySession 2

Monday, May 18, 2009

Mila Kell, Faylesha Porter, Sendhil Revuluri,Jesch Reyes, Alison Whittington

The Chicago Public School District 299 is the third largest district in the country.

• 400,000+ students, 24,000 teachers

• 655 schools with site-based management

Demographics

• 46.5% African American

• 39.1% Latino

• 8.0% White

• 3.3% Asian Pacific Islander

• 2.9% Multi-Racial

• 0.2% Native American

• 84.9% of students from low-income families

Source: http://cps.k12.il.us/AtAGlance.html

CMSI: A Focus on Improved Teaching & Learning, K–8

High-qualityteaching and

learning

More supportfor mathematics

and science

Coherent programs

Better preparedteachers

Increased student

achievement

Instructional Development Systems, in high schools

IDSTeacher

Leadership

Flexible Coaching

Concrete Professional Development

Quality Assessments

Materials & Tools

Aligned Courses

Teacher laptops, LCD projectors, computer labs, supplies, texts,

calculators

Course-specific common quarterly

and summative assessments

Coaches advise, model, co-teach, and support

common planning, data analysis, and

intervention design

Sustained PD for 1st & 2nd year teachers, tied to content, curriculum, and assessments

Explicit leadership support for lead teachers and department chairs, with opportunities to collaborate across schools

Inquiry-based, thematic units with a coherent philosophy of teaching & learning

CPS Strategy: Instructional Excellence

High QualityMaterials

Timely AssessmentData

In-School Supports

Teacher Capacity Instructional Excellence

Prior to 2002, over 87 different K-8 mathematics programs were used in CPS.

Coherent Programs

CMSI & IDS instructional materials & programs

K–5

Everyday Mathematics

Math Trailblazers

6–8

Connected Mathematics Project

Math Thematics

Algebra (7/8/9)

Carnegie Learning

CME Project

Agile Mind (9)

10–11

Carnegie Learning

CME Project

Agile Mind

Coherent Programs

University-Based Programs

Better Prepared Teachers

CMSI Annual Conference

More Supports

•Full Day Conference

•More than 100 sessions from teachers, university professors, museum educators

•Major speakers Diane Briars & Bill Kurtis

•More than 700 teachers attended

http://cmsi.cps.k12.il.us

Examples Others May Find Helpful

• High school algebra for middle grades students• Teacher leadership professional development• Lenses on Learning for elementary principals• Benchmark assessment• Supports for teachers of English Language Learners• Leveraging university partnerships/resources

High School Algebra I for Middle Grades Students

District Vision• Provide access to high-quality, rigorous, coherent high school Algebra I course to a greater number

of well-prepared middle grade students.• Provide the opportunity for these students to enroll in advanced mathematics courses as freshmen

so they will be on the pathway to enroll in AP mathematics courses in high school.• Ensure that coherent policies are in place so that students are well-prepared to be successful in

advanced mathematics courses.

Struggles to Support HS Alg I for Middle Grades Current StatusEstablish coherent district policy for course approval and placement/proficiency criteria

Policy passed in August 2008

Increase # of qualified teachers by working with local universities; year-long course sequence designed to build content and pedagogical knowledge; teacher exam given to assess understanding

# of teachers passing qualifiying exam has increased from 43 (2004) to 245 (2008)

Define recommendations and criteria for elementary schools to offer courses to middle grade students

Documents available to address the following: mathematics program, teacher qualifications, instructional materials, and obtaining course approval

Develop coherence with High Schools78 schools using recommended curricula and receiving district supports

Evaluate program progress

Report based on observations, interviews, and focus groups, with particular attention to the supports which elementary schools chose to receive (or not) as part of program; focus on the implementation of the supports (e.g., PD, coaching, cohort meetings).

Teacher Leadership PD• Teacher leaders are crucial to supporting instructional

change through collective adult learning.How do we help them meet the challenges they face?

• Build their expertise as leaders, and thus their teams’ capacity. Develop capacity at the school level through:– Support on leading and working in teams (collaboration): norms,

routines, protocols, addressing concerns

– Helping model and support data use (looking at student work, assessments) and develop high-quality instructional tasks

– Affirming teacher leaders’ role, involvement in the school, and aligning their work to school and district initiatives

• Future topics: vertical alignment (including articulation), intervention design, peer coaching, assessments, …

Lenses on Learning• An instructional supervision course from EDC for school administrators

• Focus on developing skills to be effective observers in a standards-based mathematics classroom

• Centered around the ideas of collegiality, intellectual collaboration, reflection, and generative learning

• Administrators learn to capitalize on mathematical essence of the lesson and engage teachers in conversations about teaching and learning

• Ultimate goal: A distributed supervisory model

Challenges•Diversity in philosophical assumptions about teaching, learning, and instructional supervision •Complexity of mathematical content•Limited understanding of pedagogical content knowledge•Systemic accountability concerns •Issues of positional authority vs. expert authority•Scaling up the course for the rest of the Areas in the district

Successes•High level of interest and engagement•Gradual change in thinking about standards-based instruction•Transitioning away from an evaluative supervisory stance toward a more collaborative approach to instructional leadership•A sense of urgency about creating and supporting intellectual communities in schools

Benchmark Assessment

• Offered twice a year, consistent across curricula• Intermediate measure of student learning and

the district-supported curricula pacing• Schools use the data to support their medium-

term instructional strategies

Successes

Understanding how to use the data formatively

Broader scope for analyzing student work

Productive and reflective teacher conversations about the data

DilemmasUnderstanding how to use the data formatively

Individualizing lessons as a result of benchmark dataLooking at individual students vs. class trends

Supports for teachers of English Language Learners (ELLs)

• Approximately 15% of CPS Students are classified as ELLs• Collaboration with Office of Language and Cultural Education• Chicago Bilingual Mathematics Laboratory Project• Fostering Geometric Thinking Study• Math Pathways and Pitfalls Project

Challenges•Scaling up and building on success•Internal funding to support this work•Expertise to develop and deliver professional development•Refocusing other offices from compliance to instructional support•Inequity of ELL supports and programs across different parts of city

Successes•Success of small-scale (externally funded) projects •Coordination of Summer School Programs for ELLs and general education students•Increased cooperation and support from OLCE to focus on content-area needs of ELLs•Focus groups with teachers to identify areas of need/focus for PD

Leveraging university resourcesSuccesses

• Support designing CMSI and developing PD

• Developing student curriculum in math & science

• Teacher certification & endorsement

• Interaction with teacher preparation

• Presenting at annual conference

• Program evaluation and research

• Special projects and funding for initiatives

Challenges

• Broader support from the community – beyond “experts”

• Connecting more with nearby districts – bringing in new ideas

• Continuing to leverage university partnerships (for HS)

What We Could Use Advice on

• Achievement disparities

• Building capacity

• Improving our district-wide supports

• Navigating (or influencing) autonomy

Achievement Disparities• Narrowing the achievement gap is an

essential priority for all• Building better supports for struggling

students, academically and non-academically

• Building better supports for teachers of struggling students

• Incorporating teacher expectations and student motivation

Building capacity

• Better supports for teachers working with special populations (ELLs, gifted,…)

• Building teacher capacity in general, and addressing distribution of teachers

• Building principal, school, teacher leadership, getting buy-in and support

• Supporting our own development as leaders (beyond the few of us at UMELA)

Improving District-wide Supports

• Coaching: model, quality, management, oversight, developing coaches

• Using resources and supports in parallel structures efficiently and well: aligning work, avoiding duplicated effort

• Effectiveness and usefulness of PD:structures, quality of implementation and design, evaluation (in different contexts)

Navigating / Influencing Autonomy

• Increasing input from educational stakeholders into decision-making, developing large-scale consensus

• How do you get people, departments, or layers or dimensions of the district on the same page?

• Work of the “curriculum office” in a more autonomous structure

• Working in evolving governance & performance management – appropriate assessment

• Seeing others’ data (for decisions, to advocate policies, to compare and analyze performance)