High-Quality Mathematics Instruction: What Teachers Should Know
Challenge
Review the movie below and then proceed to the Initial Thoughts section (time: 2:13).
Transcript: Challenge
High-Quality Mathematics Instruction: What Teachers Should Know
Administrators in the Lincoln Public Schools district are concerned that students’ mathematics scores have shown a downward trend over the past three years. Their first step to address the decline is to hire a consultant, who then collects information about the mathematics practices and activities implemented by the district’s teachers. Next, the consultant reviews the curriculum for each grade level, kindergarten through 12th grade.
Her findings indicate the curriculum aligns with the state’s standards—that’s the good news. However, she discovers several factors that might be contributing to the students’ poor mathematics performance. First, many teachers are unable to cover all the skills outlined in the scope and sequence for their grade-level curriculum. This is because the district timelines are too fast and not all students master the concepts in the time allotted. Second, some are not teaching the skills correctly or fail to use high-quality instructional materials. Third, most are emphasizing teaching computational skills over real-world problem-solving skills. As a result, the students do not develop a strong understanding of mathematics concepts and subsequently struggle to make connections between them. Because of these factors, some students have gaps in their mathematical skills, some students lack problem-solving skills, a majority of students across grade levels perform poorly on standardized tests, a large number of students have difficulty meeting high school graduation requirements related to mathematics, upper-level teachers must reteach topics covered in the earlier grades.
To improve student performance, the consultant recommends that the teachers implement high-quality mathematics instruction. The district administrators are surprised to receive this recommendation because—as far as they knew—the teachers have been using high-quality mathematics instruction all along. Given this revelation, they are unsure of what to do differently.
Here’s your challenge:
What is high-quality mathematics instruction and why is it important?
What evidence-based mathematics instructional practices can educators implement?
