Middle School Math – What should we be trying?
Yesterday’s Collab Lab was a joint effort with Milwaukee Succeeds. We pulled together a small group focused on middle school math– what factors lead to student success and what gets in the way. We’ll reconvene the group in October as they work as a cohort to implement the strategies we discussed. Notes from our session are below.
If you’d like to participate in a Math cohort like this, please let us know:
Contributing Factors |
Strategies |
High quality instruction*
Committed leadership* Teacher support (coaching/mentoring) Culture of taking risks and experimentation Parent engagement/advocacy/attitude Curricula Common Core State Standards Cross-sector collaboration and best practice sharing Math enrichment programs
Growth Mindset of principals, teachers, parents, and students Role models mirror students |
Increase discourse in math class
Build committed leadership
Predict where students may struggle and set them up for success Continued Learning for teachers:
|
Hindering Factors |
|
| Student and/or teacher fixed mindset*
Teacher content knowledge Math licensure Communication/language barrier ACEs Curricula
No K-12 math scope and sequence within schools, districts, and/or the city Metrics can be misleading
Teacher evaluations Prior school experiences of students Student motivation Challenges at home Students living in poverty Reliance on computer instruction Prior school experiences of adults Lack of resources in the classroom
Absence of early interventions “Tracking” students |
Key:
Items discussed by the group
Items that were noted but not discussed
* designates strong support around the factor
