As the nation's eleventh largest school district, Dallas Independent School District serves more than 160,000 students who come from homes where 58 different languages are spoken. Operating with a $1 billion dollar budget, DISD employs 18,613 employees including 10,000 teachers in 220 schools.
26 Oct 2000
The traditional lesson cycle in a math class involves a teacher standing at a chalkboard lecturing to students. After classnotes, the teacher assigns problems and checks them. To teach the next mathematical concept, the same cycle starts again. But at Alex Sanger Elementary, a math curriculum called Everyday Mathematics requires students to be active participants in the classroom.
Larry Allen, principal at Sanger Elementary, said the unique math curriculum involves the students in process learning, using higher-level thinking and problem-solving skills. As active learners, the math teacher facilitates over group activities, discouraging rote learning and improving student achievement.
"The Everyday Mathematics curriculum makes the kids feel good because they receive peer support from each other," Allen said. "The activities encourages them to find answers using deductive thinking and monitor their progress with daily journals and discussions."
Everyday Mathematics has been an essential component of the math curriculum at Sanger Elementary for four years. After the first year of implementing the curriculum, student math scores on the TAAS test and other standardized exams increased at least 20 percent, Allen said. The increase has been maintained by the students to date.
Not all of the DISD elementary schools have reaped the benefits of a proven and successful curriculum like Everyday Mathematics. But with $3.3 million designated in the current operating budget of $940.7 million, DISD Director of Mathematics Camille Malone said all of the Dallas schoolchildren in grades K-9 will have the opportunity to experience the success that Sanger Elementary has known for several years now. The effectiveness of the plan is contingent on its infrastructure that devotes more time to teaching and learning math and incorporates quality curricula with a balanced concentration between basic skills and problem-solving. By adopting a comprehensive math plan for grades K-9, students will build a foundation from grade to grade, said William Tate, assistant superintendent–Math, Science and Urban Systemic Program.
"Student achievement is cumulative starting at kindergarten through ninth grade," Tate said. "The math plan provides students with a quality experience each year. It is a preparation for tests students will face. This plan is designed to effectively give students a real opportunity to pass the state-required exams and move on to post secondary education or the workforce with math skills necessary to be productive."
With a four year gradual implementation schedule, the DISD Mathematics Plan combines proven and researched-based curricula with quality professional development for teachers. The curricula includes Everyday Mathematics, Connected Math and Carnegie Learning's Cognitive Tutor™ Algebra. The plan also incorporates Project SEED and the Advanced Placement Program in mathematics.
Designed for grades K-6, Everyday Mathematics introduces basic computational and arithmetic skills including a range of concepts such as: data and probability; geometry and spatial senses; measures and measurement; numeration and order; operations; patterns, functions, and sequences; and reference frames. In the third grade, students will start learning algebra and understanding uses of variables.
The Connected Mathematics is a comprehensive curriculum for grades 6-8. Students are exposed to topics of numbers, algebra, geometry/measurement, probability and statistics. The curriculum is designed to make a connection between mathematics and other subjects as well as world outside of the classroom. Connected Mathematics benefits students because it helps them understand how math affects their lives, Malone said.
"When math can be connected to students' environment and the world around them, it makes math pertinent and more applicable," she added. Cognitive Tutor™ Algebra, a first year algebra course, integrates technology in its curriculum. The program for ninth graders is designed to have students work on cooperative problem-solving activities three days a week and similar individual problems in a computer lab the other two days.
Tate said, "Once students understand and can do algebra, the doorway of science opens for them."
Tate and Malone agreed that the best researched and recommended curricula can only be effective when paired with adequate training and professional development for the teachers charged with implementing it in the classroom. "No curriculum will produce student success unless teachers are trained well and consistently in the utilization of that curriculum," Tate said. More than 1,500 teachers attended a training seminar in June to learn how to teach the Everyday Mathematics curriculum and other innovative math strategies. Malone believes these teachers are taking the steps to be competent educators in teaching the curricula of the district math plan.
"These teachers gave up part of their summer vacation," she said. "Giving up your vacation exemplifies a commitment to professional development and achievement of their students." The DISD Mathematics Plan provides teachers with the opportunity for on-going training and professional development throughout the year including week night and Saturday sessions. Teachers will receive monetary incentives to attend Saturday-training sessions. Other components of teacher professional development are being explored, Malone said, such as a partnership with the Dallas County Community College District to provide enriched mathematics coursework for teachers.
Before this year, Malone and Tate said the district's efforts to have an effective math strategy for students have been fragmented. "This is first time in this district that the superintendent and trustees have made a substantial financial investment in a comprehensive math plan that is all encompassing," Malone said. "This math plan is designed to increase higher-order thinking skills which will increase student achievement." This student achievement is already evident in some classes in the district. Like teachers at Sanger Elementary, Dennis Hawkins, a teacher at Joseph J. Rhoads Elementary, has seen his students' math scores increase every year with Everyday Mathematics: the designated curriculum for K-6 in the district math plan.
Hawkins, who has been using Everyday Mathemathics for three years, said the curriculum allows the students to work with each other. It gives the teacher the freedom to walk around the classroom and work with individuals who need more help.
"As a teacher, I decided if I found something to help my students learn better and if the district did not have the resources, I would make the financial investment myself," Hawkins said. "As a teacher, my goal is to make sure the students learn."
Malone and Tate are excited because the district now has formulated a comprehensive math plan with the same goal for all Dallas ISD schoolchildren as Hawkins.