A Decade of improved math instruction + two years of disrupted learning = big loss in NAEP scores. Something doesn’t add up. Here are three steps toward solving the equation so students can catch up.
Mathematics teaching has made dramatic advances in the last decade, moving from “math-free Fridays” to embracing the mathematical practice “Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.” However, student mathematics results have taken a step backward, as evidenced by data from National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). We have a math problem. Recent NAEP data indicated a steep decline in mathematics scores, labeled as “appalling and unacceptable” by Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona in his recent statement on the NAEP scores. A consequence of two years of disrupted learning, NAEP scores for students in Grade 4 were at the lowest level since 2005 and NAEP scores for students in Grade 8 were at the lowest level since 2003.
The question now is how can this downward trend be reversed? Three big ideas that seem to be emerging are:
- Support mathematics teaching.
- Create better math instructional materials.
- Provide high-quality tutoring and summer learning programs.
Support Mathematics Teaching
Particularly as a result of the pandemic, federal funding is available for districts to enact improvement plans that include remedies such as tutoring and summer school. In addition to financial help, measures taken by the U.S. Department of Education to help math students catch up include providing resources to support teaching strategies. One such resource titled “Assisting Students Struggling with Mathematics: Intervention in the Elementary Grades” identifies the need for systematic instruction: “The term systematic indicates that instructional elements intentionally build students’ knowledge over time toward an identified learning outcome(s).”
When systematically teaching grade-level standards, however, math teachers encounter gaps in student knowledge. It can be difficult for teachers to identify these gaps and time-consuming to fill them in. Teachers need a way to support the rapid diagnosis and intervention of prerequisite skills. The science behind the Quantile® Framework for Mathematics provides a way for teachers to match students’ mathematical ability with skills and concepts they are ready to learn. Using Quantile measures, teachers can fill in missing skills sequentially and lead students along the fastest path back to grade-level mathematics.
The Quantile Framework for Mathematics is a unique measurement system that uses a common scale and metric to assess a student’s mathematical achievement level and the difficulty of specific skills and concepts. Quantile measures enhance instructional planning by describing which mathematical skills and concepts the student has learned and is ready to learn. Quantile measures ensure an equitable approach to mathematics teaching and learning by providing teachers with a method to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of each student, regardless of their knowledge gaps. Quantile measures provide a unique solution to identifying prerequisite skills.
Two types of Quantile measures are necessary for informing instruction:
- Student Quantile measures resulting from students taking Quantile-enabled assessments throughout the year; and
- Quantile measures for math lessons and activities.
When a student’s Quantile measure falls within a certain range of the Quantile measure of a lesson/activity, the student is ready for instruction on that lesson/activity. Educators can use these two types of Quantile measures for instructional planning to determine individual differentiation needs that can be met using Quantile-calibrated resources.
Create Better Math Instructional Materials
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently announced grants of over $1 billion to improve math education in the next decade. According to the director of the Gates Foundation’s K-12 program, Bob Hughes, “We’ll work with partners to improve math instruction by supporting the development and use of high-quality instructional materials that increase student motivation, engagement, and persistence.”
Creators of math materials, whether it be a textbook publisher or an edtech company creating math activities online, often focus on grade-level content and do not make it easy for teachers to “back-up” in their content to access prerequisite skills from lower grades. The Quantile® Sequencing Service allows math content providers to create student learning pathways in their math content across grade levels. With the Quantile Sequencing Service, teachers know the math lesson or activity at which a student needs to begin working, according to the classroom topic and the student’s skill level. The Service identifies the most relevant place in math content for a struggling student to begin acquiring lower grade-level prerequisite skills based on the student Quantile measure and the Quantile measures of the materials.
Content providers send MetaMetrics their math materials which are first calibrated to the math skills and concepts of the Quantile Framework. Then the content is sequenced using the Quantile measures of these skills and concepts. The content provider receives a report that demonstrates how their content sequences across grade levels and can use the report to determine the best way to personalize learning in their content for students with different Quantile measures.
Provide High-quality Tutoring and Summer Learning Programs
Following the release of the NAEP scores in September, Cardona stated that we can recover and “high-dosage tutoring and enriching afterschool programs” are strategies that work. High-dosage tutoring that takes place as part of the instructional day, academic-focused before/after school programs and summer learning opportunities are part of the solution. Consistency is key–An edResearch for Recovery report states that when the same tutors provide instruction to the same students at least three times per week, tutoring has a measurable impact on student growth to the tune of 3-15 months of student achievement. We can do more.
Summer learning programs and other types of enriching before/after school programs can not only stave off summer learning loss, they can boost growth. The National Summer Learning Association conducted a longitudinal analysis of outcomes for nearly 6,000 3rd-7th grade students in five districts and found measurable short and long-term benefits of summer learning programs, especially for students in low-income communities.
A critical component of all of these programs is, again, measurement. Quantile measures provide the tools to personalize instruction and measure growth. When tutoring and enrichment programs align with the Quantile Framework, a nationally-recognized growth scale, tutors are empowered with information to differentiate lessons and report each student’s learning progress over time. This is a powerful combination.
The Path Forward: Solving the U.S. Math Problem
The effort needed to solve the U.S.’ math problem and reverse the downward trend of NAEP scores is large. Quantile measures can contribute to this work by helping teachers to improve math instruction and helping math content providers to improve math materials. As Cardona concluded in his remarks on the NAEP scores. “The time is now. This is our moment. It’s up to us to raise the bar in education.”