Original Vision

In 1999 the Middle School Mathematics Standards Project began as a collaborative effort involving New Visions for Public Schools, the New York City Department of Education, four local Community School Districts and the City College of New York. (MS)2 was designed to help meet the demands of standards based learning and teaching at the middle school level.

Strategies to support teachers and administrators in this process include:

• Creating viable study groups where teachers can strengthen mathematics content, examine student work, and develop teaching practices that support inquiry based learning.
• Supporting teacher leaders in helping them to assume a role of leadership where they model listening, shared leadership and work to keep the focus on developing teachers' mathematics content and teachers' understanding of how to design coherent instruction - not on adminstrivia.
• Providing opportunities for principals to develop a thorough understanding of concrete strategies needed to successfully support learning communities. Principals need to know how to monitor the progress of study groups, how to effectively communicate with teacher leaders and they must ensure that there is time and space provided for study groups to meet regularly. They must also run interference to ensure that teachers are not involved in adminstrivia during study group sessions.
• Providing networking opportunities for teachers, administrators and districts.
• Providing support for assistant principals who are responsible for direct supervision of mathematics.
• Informing the efforts of teachers, administrators and students as they grapple with creating environments that are centered on student and adult learning.
• Providing opportunities for partners to come together to examine and analyze data about students, teachers, schools, administrators, and the change process.

Reflections from the end:

Transforming schools is an on-going process, which requires teachers and administrators to continuously adapt in order to meet the changing needs of students and the evolving needs of society. When examining the question of what are the inhibitors to sustainability --it is equally important to first answer the following question: 1) What is the difference between superficial change and deep meaningful change within our schools? Not enough educators and policy makers are aware of the difference and the fact that superficial change is easier to accomplish. School leaders are slowing developing an understanding that changing the physical structure and the use of time and space does not automatically result in collaboration and shared learning. In fact, developing leaders and teachers who understand that real collaboration requires focusing on the issues that matter within the school community is one of the greatest challenges to accomplishing deep meaningful change in schools.

Some of the inhibitors to sustainability include:

• Lack of shared vision amongst all stakeholders. Our work with teachers and administrators include an emphasis on helping them identify and verbalize their fears, current reality, and their vision for mathematics learning and teaching. We cannot assume that all stakeholders have the same vision. You can use the diagram below to concretize for teachers and administrators what happens to the change process when personal beliefs such as 'girls can't do math' or 'student's need basic skills' have a greater pull than the shared vision 'that all students should have access to rigorous mathematics. (The following diagram was adapted from Peter Senge, The fifth discipline).
  

• Quick Fixes. The pressure to raise test scores leads many incoming and veteran principals and district leaders to quick fixes and quick superficial changes. As a result reform efforts, which are not yet fully sustained in the school culture and the community, can find themselves on the chopping block.
• Turnover at all levels. In schools and districts with large turnover the need to have a collaborative culture and strategies to welcome new teachers and administrators are key to sustaining change in teaching and supervising mathematics.
• Cost - If reform efforts are too costly schools and districts will not be willing to support or replicate reform over an extended period of time.
• Efficiency - Teachers and administrators need ongoing professional development on what to measure and how to measure, if they are to obtain useful information about student learning. The pressure to raise test scores has a significant influence on what teachers and administrators value. Efficiency is what most teachers and administrators know simply because it is how they were taught. Most importantly efficiency is deeply rooted in the history of education and in school culture. (See Raymond Callahan - Education and the cult of efficiency).
• Differentiated professional development for teachers and administrators. Our professional development for teachers have centered on helping them developing their understanding of individual student needs. However, it is equally important for 'teacher educators' to understand that each individual teacher is at a different place on the learning continuum. Teachers need to be conscious of their strengths, and weaknesses, all of which will help them to set goals for personal mastery. (See Charlotte Danielson, Enhancing professional practice: A framework for teaching)

  An example of where teachers might place themselves on the learning continuum:

  

• A shared vision for mathematics teaching and learning can overcome personal fears and the current reality of each stakeholder.
• Project teams must recognize that part of their role is to engage teachers and administrators to discuss the question of how to sustain reform efforts.
• Developing a rubric to assess where each school is located on the change continuum. Begin with the following guiding questions to develop your rubric:
  • What are the elements of an effective study group?
  • What does administrative support for study groups look like and sound like?
  Use the rubric to chart where each school is on the continuum and then ask relevant questions about where to place additional resources and energy?
• Teachers are your greatest source for garnering public support for reform curricula and reform efforts. Helping teachers and teacher leaders understand their role as advocates for creating, supporting and sustaining a learning community are vital to long lasting change.
• Authentic partnerships with other districts and organizations that have a shared vision in order to share resources and strategies will also help to promote sustainability and garner support for reform efforts. As new leaders come into the community they are more likely to buy into reform efforts when they see themselves as part of a larger learning community.
• Support administrators and teachers in the process of outlining strategies to address the pressure of test prep. Using student work to engage teachers and administrators keep the focus of teaching and supervision centered on students. Administrators need opportunities to share their strategies on effective academic intervention in mathematics. For example, in Literacy administrators may find it easy to ask teachers from various content areas to provide small group instruction to students. However in mathematics where teacher content knowledge and effective pedagogy is an enormous challenge is this strategy as effective?
• Ladder of leadership to help build the capacity of the district and system. We have found that some of our greatest supporters come from teacher leaders who become assistant principals or take on other leadership roles in the school or district office. In addition, we strengthen platforms for support when principals who were part of reform efforts become district leaders or superintendents.

What aspects or elements are likely to be sustained?

• The aspects of reform efforts that are likely to be sustained are those that cost less and have the greatest political support. This is why public engagement of all stakeholders is key to sustainability.
• Change, which is not superficial, implies that you can't go back. When teachers and administrators learn to value the study group and real collaboration they become conscious of their roles as change agents and lifelong learners.

Suggestions based on lessons learned

Shared Vision: Peter Senge notes that "Shared vision is vital to any organization because it provides the focus and energy for learning. While adaptive learning is possible without vision, generative learning occurs only when people are striving to accomplish something that matters deeply to them. ... Today, "vision" is a familiar concept in corporate leadership. But when you look carefully you find that most visions are one person's (or one group's) vision imposed on an organization. Such visions, at best, command compliance - not commitment. A shared vision is a vision that many people are truly committed to, because it reflects their own personal vision" (The fifth discipline, p. 206). For projects starting out it is important to continuously ask whether or not the vision for reform is shared and if it is not a shared vision, what can you do to create a shared vision in order to ensure commitment of all participants to project goals and outcomes.

Leadership: Project starting out should continuously engage leaders to ensure that their leadership style is not hands-on or hands-off. Instead leaders' style must be hands-under in order to create a platform of support for teachers and students. Most importantly, leaders can use this hands-under platform to provide a safety net for teachers to take risks. For teacher leaders this is a new role. Therefore professional development should help them to understand how leaders influence and create change.

Questions for visitors

1. When comparing those schools that are farthest away from your shared vision and schools that are closet to your vision where should your place a greater effort?



2. What data do you use to help principals become more aware of what teachers need to know in order to meet student's needs?
3. What data should you use to learn about students, teachers and administrators?
4. What role does assistant principals play is sustaining and supporting reform efforts?