APS Math instruction

[Anonymous]

I haven't seen a post here yet, but Duran announced a few weeks ago that math scores have fallen across all cohorts of APS students, decreasing from already low post-pandemic levels. It's bad and not getting better. This was the email:

Math Monitoring Report: During the report, you will hear directly from our dedicated math coaches, as well as a math interventionist, about the powerful ways we are supporting teachers and students to drive achievement and success in mathematics across the division. Our division-wide data shows a slight drop in MAP Scores compared to last year across all student groups. However, fewer students scored within the lowest achievement range this year, demonstrating growth and improvement. The Office of Academics will detail the steps we are taking to increase and intensify targeted interventions for English Learners, Students with Disabilities, and economically disadvantaged students. View the full report.

This is the full report:
https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board...open&id=DEXSLD7321AC

In response to these dismal scores, Duran is proposing small group remediation for only the weakest students plus ongoing "assessment." This strikes me as wholly inadequate given that scores fell across all students groups. Why are we not changing APS's choice of math curricula and EdTech? What they're doing now clearly isn't working.

From what I'm seeing DreamBox and IXL seem to have taken over math instruction in APS. My middle schooler is taught almost entirely by IXL with no direct instruction. My elementary school student is taught using a workshop model, akin to the now defunct Lucy Calkins language arts curriculum, plus a hefty dose of DreamBox. Why are we not reconsidering how APS is teaching math, or failing to teach math as the case may be? Don't these scores show that it's time to try something different?

[Anonymous]

I am sorry I haven’t had the same experience. My kid has had excellent math teachers at APS. I will also say that DreamBox is really important for fluency. There is no reason why a teacher should waste instructional time on drill and practice kind of stuff, and they do need fluency in the early grades.

I would also make my kid do DreamBox at home when he was little, and I appreciated having that resource.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry I haven’t had the same experience. My kid has had excellent math teachers at APS. I will also say that DreamBox is really important for fluency. There is no reason why a teacher should waste instructional time on drill and practice kind of stuff, and they do need fluency in the early grades.

I would also make my kid do DreamBox at home when he was little, and I appreciated having that resource.

Who said anything about teacher quality? The OP didn't. Good teachers can be asked to teach a terrible curriculum. It's happened before, see Lucy Calkins.

So if everything is so perfect and Dreambox is amazing, why are math scores falling across the whole district?

[Anonymous]

Dreamsux

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dreamsux

+1

[Anonymous]

Where is your kid in school? My kids have a lot of direct instruction at Gunston but I agree that APS should be looking at systemic issues. I personally think they need more regular math home work (actual worksheets not just dreambox) starting in 4th grade. I print extra homework out myself that I get from teacherspayteachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry I haven’t had the same experience. My kid has had excellent math teachers at APS. I will also say that DreamBox is really important for fluency. There is no reason why a teacher should waste instructional time on drill and practice kind of stuff, and they do need fluency in the early grades.

I would also make my kid do DreamBox at home when he was little, and I appreciated having that resource.

Who said anything about teacher quality? The OP didn't. Good teachers can be asked to teach a terrible curriculum. It's happened before, see Lucy Calkins.

So if everything is so perfect and Dreambox is amazing, why are math scores falling across the whole district?

Nothing is going to change because Duran cares 100% about the achievement gap and nothing else. Sticking the system with a mediocre math curriculum while focusing all extra resources on the lowest scorers produces a smaller gap between the highest and lowest scores. If they were to fix the math curriculum for everyone that would consume resources that could have gone to the bottom. What’s more, it would introduce the possibility that scores at the high end would rise faster than scores at the bottom. Even if the average went up, the gap would be wider. And a wider gap is a policy failure from Duran’s perspective.

A system’s purpose is what it does, not what it purports to do. Scores fell because Duran doesn’t want them to go up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry I haven’t had the same experience. My kid has had excellent math teachers at APS. I will also say that DreamBox is really important for fluency. There is no reason why a teacher should waste instructional time on drill and practice kind of stuff, and they do need fluency in the early grades.

I would also make my kid do DreamBox at home when he was little, and I appreciated having that resource.

Who said anything about teacher quality? The OP didn't. Good teachers can be asked to teach a terrible curriculum. It's happened before, see Lucy Calkins.

So if everything is so perfect and Dreambox is amazing, why are math scores falling across the whole district?

Nothing is going to change because Duran cares 100% about the achievement gap and nothing else. Sticking the system with a mediocre math curriculum while focusing all extra resources on the lowest scorers produces a smaller gap between the highest and lowest scores. If they were to fix the math curriculum for everyone that would consume resources that could have gone to the bottom. What’s more, it would introduce the possibility that scores at the high end would rise faster than scores at the bottom. Even if the average went up, the gap would be wider. And a wider gap is a policy failure from Duran’s perspective.

A system’s purpose is what it does, not what it purports to do. Scores fell because Duran doesn’t want them to go up.

I agree with your thesis 1000%. Have found that APS admin even at the school level is concerned only with the bottom of the class. I see it at dhms where the “good” math teacher are assigned to the poorer students and the high achievers are left with whatever is left. The good students are likely to do fine on the sol so put the effort into the bottom of the class. There are lots of high performing students at APS but it is left to their families to extend their learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sorry I haven’t had the same experience. My kid has had excellent math teachers at APS. I will also say that DreamBox is really important for fluency. There is no reason why a teacher should waste instructional time on drill and practice kind of stuff, and they do need fluency in the early grades.

I would also make my kid do DreamBox at home when he was little, and I appreciated having that resource.

Who said anything about teacher quality? The OP didn't. Good teachers can be asked to teach a terrible curriculum. It's happened before, see Lucy Calkins.

So if everything is so perfect and Dreambox is amazing, why are math scores falling across the whole district?

Nothing is going to change because Duran cares 100% about the achievement gap and nothing else. Sticking the system with a mediocre math curriculum while focusing all extra resources on the lowest scorers produces a smaller gap between the highest and lowest scores. If they were to fix the math curriculum for everyone that would consume resources that could have gone to the bottom. What’s more, it would introduce the possibility that scores at the high end would rise faster than scores at the bottom. Even if the average went up, the gap would be wider. And a wider gap is a policy failure from Duran’s perspective.

A system’s purpose is what it does, not what it purports to do. Scores fell because Duran doesn’t want them to go up.

The problem is that this isn't how it works. The privileged kids end up with tutors and supplementation at home, so they do fine. A poor curriculum predominantly hurts the kids without these supports.

We saw it with LC, when all the kids I knew had reading tutors. Now I know a ton of kids with math tutors or doing extra math classes, including my own.

[Anonymous]

Which math textbooks/curriculum is APS using?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Which math textbooks/curriculum is APS using?

Envision (which is a weak program) plus a buncha Dreambox.

Womp womp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which math textbooks/curriculum is APS using?

Envision (which is a weak program) plus a buncha Dreambox.

Womp womp.

I don't know any teachers who actually use the Envision workbooks. They have come home empty every spring.

There's a workshop model (à la Lucy Calkins) that teachers are supposed to be using, per the slides linked by OP. That's how my elementary school student is taught.

In middle school they use a ton of IXL, which isn't a curriculum, but a database of iPad practice problems. The teacher isn't using Envision at all and sent the workbooks home at the beginning of the year in case parents wanted them for extra practice.

[Anonymous]

Now that APS has CKLA — a literacy curriculum that is solid and works well, APS needs to replace their math curriculum with one that works.

“Primary Math (US Edition)” is almost identical to the “Primary Math” curriculum used by Singapore, which consistently has high math score in the PISA tests. The only differences are (1) that the US Edition teaches US weights/measures rather than Metric-only and (2) the US Edition teaches US coin and printed money denominations rather than Singaporean ones. If they would switch and use that, it would be great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Now that APS has CKLA — a literacy curriculum that is solid and works well, APS needs to replace their math curriculum with one that works.

“Primary Math (US Edition)” is almost identical to the “Primary Math” curriculum used by Singapore, which consistently has high math score in the PISA tests. The only differences are (1) that the US Edition teaches US weights/measures rather than Metric-only and (2) the US Edition teaches US coin and printed money denominations rather than Singaporean ones. If they would switch and use that, it would be great.

While it’s a solid curriculum, Singapore (and other high-performing countries) do well because: 1) everyone values education and 2) they group kids by ability.

Our teachers have to spend all their time and energy teaching to the bottom and trying to get kids to behave. No wonder they’re leaving the profession.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Now that APS has CKLA — a literacy curriculum that is solid and works well, APS needs to replace their math curriculum with one that works.

“Primary Math (US Edition)” is almost identical to the “Primary Math” curriculum used by Singapore, which consistently has high math score in the PISA tests. The only differences are (1) that the US Edition teaches US weights/measures rather than Metric-only and (2) the US Edition teaches US coin and printed money denominations rather than Singaporean ones. If they would switch and use that, it would be great.

While it’s a solid curriculum, Singapore (and other high-performing countries) do well because: 1) everyone values education and 2) they group kids by ability.

Our teachers have to spend all their time and energy teaching to the bottom and trying to get kids to behave. No wonder they’re leaving the profession.

APS students were doing better in 2018-19, and even last year. There's no reason scores shouldn't be recovering to at least post-pandemic levels. Instead scores are decreasing. That's not okay.