Charles The A. Dana Center The University of Texas at Austin
DEV 3.200 2901 N. IH 35, Ste. 3.200, Austin, Texas, 78722-2348
MEMORANDUM To: From: Uri Treisman, Professor of Mathematics and Director, Charles A. Dana Center Darlene Yaez, Research and Evaluation Specialist, Charles A. Dana Center, and Melanie Wenrick, Graduate Research Assistant, Charles A. Dana Center October 6, 1999 Algebra I End-of-Course Examination: Observations from Texas Practitioners
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The following is a preliminary report summarizing the observations of algebra teachers and other educators who work in schools that have seen dramatic1 improvements in their Algebra I End-of-Course Examination scores. These observations were collected as part of a study still in progress on the factors that contribute to high or low performance on this important state examination. These comments are offered in the hope that they will point concerned educators in useful directions as they search for local solutions to the challenge of improving algebra teaching and learning in their schools. We look forward to providing you with the final report on this study after it has gone through a rigorous external and peer review.
Introduction
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e are concerned that too often, public reports about student performance on important tests focus on the average level of achievement, rather than on the distribution of scores. It is important for Texas educators to know that while we have a long way to go in improving Texas students' understanding of algebra, there are, in every region of the state, schools which have helped their students perform at high levels on the Algebra I End-of-Course exam. While we do not believe that it is a trivial matter for one school to replicate the success of another, we do believe that it's worth looking at such successes and at the practitioner wisdom that created them. Especially important is to look for common themes among these schools with improving scores. Educators should consider these themes and how they might apply to their students and local circumstances.
By "dramatic" improvements, we mean schools that had increases (in the percentage of students passing the Algebra I End-of-Course Exam) ranging from 21 to 92 percentage points. For example, a school that improved 92 percentage points had 8 percent of the students pass one year and 100 percent of the students pass the following year.
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We want to acknowledge our debt to the Texas Education Agency's report, Improving Student Achievement on the Algebra I End-of-Course Exam (1999), which described schools from across the state that were successful on the Algebra I EOC. This report sharpened our interest in algebra achievement and served as a jumping-off point for our own study. For our project, we spoke with 8th and 9th-grade Algebra I teachers (and sometimes with administrators or counselors) at schools from across Texas that had the largest improvements from 1997 to 1998 in the percentage of students passing the Algebra I End-of-Course exam, as reported by the Texas Education Agency. As noted above, the schools selected are broadly distributed around the state, and include examples from every education service center region. We interviewed educators at rural, urban, and suburban schools, at schools in small and in large districts, and at schools with highly diverse student populations. The focus of this preliminary report is the responses of 201 educators in schools that showed significant gains in the percentage of students passing the Algebra I EOC exam from 1997 to 1998. The interviews were conducted by telephone in the spring of 1999; most of the interviewees were Algebra I teachers, but when we were unable to speak directly with an Algebra I teacher, we spoke with a counselor or a school administrator. We asked specific questions about the Algebra I textbook that teachers were using, and about their class schedules for the Algebra I course (i.e., whether scheduling was traditional, regular block, modified block, and so on). We also asked a subset of these educators additional questions about their professional development opportunities with regard to Algebra I, and about the factors they believed had improved their school's Algebra I EOC exam scores.
Observations Observation 1: A sense of urgency Most of the teachers from schools where the Algebra I EOC scores improved from 1997 to 1998 expressed a strong sense of urgency about their students' performance on the Algebra I EOC exam. These teachers made the Algebra I course and the Algebra I EOC a priority, and expended considerable energy on teaching the course and on preparing students for the exam. The educators we interviewed reported that the Algebra I EOC exam led them to 1) modify their teaching strategies; 2) create opportunities to interact with their students throughout the day and before and after school; 3) work on strengthening their algebra program as part of a team that included other mathematics teachers and administrators; and 4) encourage and support their students to successfully complete Algebra I and pass the Algebra I EOC exam. Many teachers provided accounts of how their districts or particular administrators created a sense of urgency around algebra and the End-of-Course Algebra I exam. Some districts created an explicit internal accountability system that identified specific Algebra I learning objectives for each six- or nineweek period. Some schools and districts required students to take practice Algebra I tests to measure their achievement on key learning objectives; the results of these tests were used to shape the kind of assistance that students received. In brief, the Algebra I End-of-Course examination mattered in these schools, and in many cases, in their districts. These schools' improving scores were not attributable solely to individual teachers acting in isolation, but to teachers working collaboratively in an environment focused on algebra performance.
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Observation 2: Algebra for all Many of the educators with whom we spoke acknowledged that they felt challenged by the diversity of skill levels in their algebra classes, yet many reported a campuswide attitude of "no excuses." They reported that the culture of their school or mathematics department was focused on helping all of their students to succeed on the Algebra I EOC exam. As one teacher stated bluntly, "We do what we have to do to get the kids to pass." Almost all of the teachers with whom we spoke acknowledged the challenges of helping students at risk of failing Algebra I or the Algebra I EOC examination. We were impressed by the clear commitment of the educators interviewed to teach algebra to all of their students. Observation 3: Teamwork and collaboration Many educators told us of organized structures within their schools or districts for improving Algebra I EOC scores. One such structure was regularly convened teams focused on algebra; another structure was the use of vertical teaming--i.e., working with a group of mathematics teachers at the middle and high school levels. In almost all cases, these organized structures were supported or facilitated by campus or district administrators who helped with scheduling and team meeting locations. These organized structures allowed schools to align their mathematics curriculum across grade levels, and allowed teachers to share strategies and techniques for helping students master algebra content. Some of the educators we interviewed reported that experienced teachers took time to mentor new algebra teachers. Observation 4: Professional development teachers Many at the schools with improving Algebra I EOC scores reported participation in extensive professional development activities, including workshops offered within the district, workshops given by education service centers, and those available through regional or state conferences. The most oftenreported training was the TEXTEAMS (Texas Teachers Empowered for Achievement in Mathematics and Science) Algebra I Institute. In many cases, the schools with dramatic improvement in Algebra I EOC exam results also reported that they sent several teachers, entire mathematics departments, or all the Algebra I teachers in the school or district to attend the TEXTEAMS Algebra I Institute. Some teachers reported that they were then able to immediately implement TEXTEAMS strategies, techniques, and technology into their classrooms. They also reported the importance of participating in professional development as a school team. The common experiences gained from such participation allowed them to share their new teaching strategies and to talk about their work using a common language. Observation 5: Textbook selection and use of supplemental resources When we asked educators at the schools with improving scores what textbook they had used during the 199697 and 199798 school years, they reported that each of the state-adopted Algebra I textbooks was being used. It's important to note, however, that no one state-adopted textbook was being used more predominantly than any other. At the same time, the majority of the educators that we interviewed did not believe that the textbook was the main factor in their students' improving scores on the Algebra I EOC exam. The educators instead frequently described using a variety of supplemental resources, such as resources from professional-development workshops, district-provided resources, various individual resources that they had collected and developed over the years, instructional materials formatted like the
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Algebra I EOC, and released (that is, publicly accessible) versions of the Algebra I EOC exams. In addition, teachers at the schools with improving scores reported regularly integrating the graphing calculator into their classrooms. They noted that with preparation and practice using the graphing calculators, many of their students were able to pass the Algebra I EOC exam. (Note: the Algebra I EOC requires that graphing calculators be available to students taking the exam. The teachers at schools with improving scores reported that use of the graphing calculator in general--and not just for the exam--allowed their students to focus on learning the algebra concepts.) Observation 6: Class schedules Teachers at the schools with improving scores described a variety of class schedules, including traditional, regular block, modified block, extended block, and accelerated block schedules. Some schools also reported a combination of these schedules. Some teachers we interviewed believed that increasing the amount of time in class to ninety minutes a day was beneficial for their students, while others reported improving scores in classes that met for only forty-five minutes a day. Based on these interviews, how the class time was spent (i.e., using supplemental materials, integrating the graphing calculator and manipulatives, using new teaching strategies learned in professional development, and so on) seemed ultimately to be more important to improving scores than how the class was scheduled.
Reflections Based on our interim observations from these interviews, we have developed a set of questions that teachers, administrators, and other school district staff might want to consider as they work to improve student performance on the Algebra I End-of-Course exam, and, further, to prepare students for the TEKS2 -aligned Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) that will be administered during the 19992000 academic year. Our intent in putting forth these questions is not to present a recipe or checklist for how to improve performance on the Algebra I EOC exam; rather, we aspire to support Texas educators as they create local solutions to the challenge of improving algebra teaching and learning in their schools and districts. Developing a sense of urgency: How is a shared sense of urgency about the importance of algebra communicated to teachers, students, and their families in our school and district? How are teachers, students, and their families made aware of district algebra performance and goals? How are we using our campus and district performance data to measure student learning in algebra a...