Original Vision

The TREASURmath project is a four year National Science Foundation project that was to sustain a curriculum and materials adoption that had already been implemented, but was struggling philosophically. This project takes place in a school district of seven elementary and middle schools in Phoenix, Arizona that serves 5000 students with a wide variety of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

The overall goal for this project is for teachers and principals to implement and sustain reflective strategies for mathematics education. Specific objectives include:

1. The district will articulate a philosophy of using children's thinking as a basis for instructional decisions.
2. A mechanism for professional development of new teachers will be put in place.
3. All teachers will use reflective teaching strategies.
4. Mathematics content knowledge of all teachers will be enhanced.
5. Administrators will use practices that support reflective teaching.
6. Students will demonstrate high levels of understanding mathematics.
7. Parents and the community will receive information about reforms initiated through this project.

Circling the Oceans: Maintaining Sustainability

The original vision for this plan focused on sustainability. Some features we have employed to meet this vision include:

1. Financial: The district is gradually picking up some of the costs of the professional development that was originally paid for through our NSF grant. It was originally written into our grant that release time for teacher leaders would be paid by the district by the end of the grant.
2. Philosophic: We have created a "second tier" of math teacher leaders who receive extra training in mathematics education. They serve two important functions. They perpetuate the reform philosophy throughout the schools. They are qualified applicants ready to assume teacher leader positions when there is turnover. Also, there are regular meetings between administrators and teacher leaders to assess the progress of the reform.
3. Logistical: As a requirement of the grant, teachers and administrators are completing 130 hours of professional development. This included a 45 hour math content course, a 30 hour summer institute and at least 55 hours of collaborative study group sessions. We have sought support from other sources (private foundations, calendar changes) to ensure that there is teacher collaborative time for professional development for many years to come.

Reflections from the end:

Two of our goals became more challenging than anticipated. First, raising the content knowledge of all teachers was challenging, because many teachers did not feel that it was necessary to attend an algebra or geometry class when they only taught primary grades. In order to meet this goal, teacher leaders have had to be skillful about embedding content knowledge in other professional development activities such as collaborative lesson planning. This tactic will be the best approach for us to strive to meet the objective after the grant has ended. Second, the goal of educating parents has been very challenging, because it is difficult to access the attention of large groups of parents. The schools are continually striving for creative ways to get parents to attend workshops, or family math night as well as read literature sent home.

The other goals of our project are being met! We have a comprehensive professional development plan in place. All teachers of mathematics receive support from teacher leaders and participate in collaborative discussions about mathematics. Nearly all teachers and administrators in the district have or will attend a summer institute and content class about mathematics. Our administrators also receive monthly training on various topics of mathematics education. Students continue to demonstrate excellent mathematical skills in several standardized tests (see graph #2). Our efforts in this grant have resulted in a buried treasure surfacing to the top. After three years of hard work teachers now anticipate and enjoy their collaborative time to become better teachers. Also, we view our student achievement success as pieces of gold!

These goals have not been without obstacles, however. Some things that we have wrestled with include the continual battle for funding sources, a high and unexpected turnover among teachers, increased levels of student transiency, and unequal distribution of time for collaboration across the schools. To counter these challenges, we have had many supports. Some of the best features of our reform include: trained and passionate Teacher Leaders, a cadre of substitutes who provided release time for teachers once a year, and collaborative time for teachers. Also, an extensive evaluation instrument for teachers was introduced to some schools through a tangential program. It has had the effect of holding teachers accountable for being reflective as well as giving teachers a definition of what a good teacher does. Teacher Leaders have found this teaching rubric to be a valuable tool in achieving the goals of our math reform.

Suggestions based on lessons learned

Reviewing the outcomes of the TREASURmath project has challenged Madison School District to focus a more watchful eye on data collection and comprehensive involvement of stakeholders that have a vested interest in meeting goals.

Data Collection-Hunting For Gold

• Identify the types of data you will collect prior to beginning a systemic reform.
• Plan for effective ways to distribute data to administrators, teachers, community members and parents. Evaluate data to ensure that it is easy to understand and interpret.
• Use data to closely monitor teacher and administrator engagement. Evidencing progress and involvement along the way will support reaching objectives.

Vested Stakeholders-Establishing Your Crew

• Involving all stakeholders from the inception of your project will be of utmost importance.
• Educating administrators prior to beginning a change endeavor will ensure buy in.

Questions for visitors

• What kinds of data will best address the outcome of your objectives?
• When will you collect this data?
• How will you use this data to better plan for professional development and ongoing systemic change?
• What are the best methods to address the continual need for parent education and extended community support with information that is workable and easy to understand?