Over the past eight years, we have had the opportunity to provide evaluation services for Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) programs in Washington, Hawaii, and Alabama. Through this experience, we have observed the positive impact of these programs and the promising practices that are developing from the partnerships. 

The intent of the MSP federal grant program, which funds approximately $175 million/year, is to encourage partnerships between institutions of higher education (IHE) and high-need school districts focused on the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Each of the MSPs features an alliance of an IHE and the K-12 school system working together to create high quality professional development opportunities for teachers. The overarching goal of these efforts is to increase student achievement in mathematics and science. Professional development activities focus on increasing teachers’ content knowledge and instructional skills along with ongoing collaboration to:

1. Enhance schools’ capacity to provide challenging curricula for all students and encourage more students to succeed in advanced courses in mathematics and the sciences;
   
2. Increase the number, quality, and diversity of mathematics and science teachers, especially in underserved areas;
   
3. Engage and support scientists, mathematicians, and engineers at local universities and local industries to work with K-12 educators and students;
   
4. Contribute to a greater understanding of how students effectively learn mathematics and science and how teacher preparation and professional development can be improved; and
   
5. Promote institutional and organizational change in education systems — from kindergarten through graduate school — to sustain partnerships’ promising practices and policies [NSF]

Change is hard. Whether you are 8 or 80, times of transition can be overwhelming, unnerving, and downright scary. For children and teens, transitions from elementary to middle and middle to high school can coincide with other major changes in their development, contributing to a perfect storm of raging hormones, shaky self-esteem, new social pressures, and increasing academic expectations. With all of the focus on College and Career Readiness it can be easy to lose site of the here and now. We pressure teachers to teach to the correct standards and students to perform to them, but sometimes we neglect the social and emotional side of education. 

In a three-year study, our research team evaluated a grant given by the Raikes Foundation to various school districts across Washington State to help students transition from elementary to middle school. The study gathered student and parent perceptions about middle school and analyzed the services and strategies schools used to help ease the transition.

It turns out, many students form their perceptions of the next school level based on hearsay and stories from their teachers, parents, and peers. It also turns out that many adults still harbor ill feelings about their own middle school experiences. In focus groups, parents shared their own stories of bullies and drama when they were students. Older students and siblings warn incoming students of fights, drugs, mean teachers, and bad food. Students reported hearing their teachers say, “Just wait—you’ll never get away with that kind of behavior in middle school” or “You are going to be in for a surprise when you see how much homework you’ll have.” While many or all of these tales may contain elements of truth, they certainly do not paint the whole picture, or at least not a very optimistic one.

So what are the major concerns of transitioning students? Based on a series of focus groups of transitioning sixth graders, we found students’ biggest worries to be bullying/fights, getting lost, not being able to open their lockers, getting shoved inside a locker, and fitting in socially. You will notice, none of these issues have anything to do with academics. As educators and parents, we can help ease that transition in order to help students focus on important things (like completing their homework and passing tests). Here are some suggestions on how parents, teachers, counselors, administrators, and peers can all help ease the transition with minimal effort. 

Accountability systems that focus primarily on reading and math scores, rising expectations with the Common Core State Standards, and increased pressure on low-performing schools has led many schools to spend more and more time on “core” classes like reading, writing, and mathematics. Often schools expand these classes at the cost of non-tested subjects such as science, social studies, physical education, and the arts. While teachers and administrators lament the loss of these subjects, often teachers report there is not enough time in the regular school day to address them. This loss affects low socio-economic status students harder than their more affluent counterparts, who often have access to after-school sports and arts programs. This is especially troublesome because a large body of research has shown that access to physical education and fine arts programs actually increases students’ academic performance.

To combat the loss of these programs, many schools are turning to an Expanded Learning Time (ELT) model. Alternatively called Extended Learning Time, the ELT model extends the day to allow time for increased reading and math studies in the regular part of the day while allowing for other subjects to be available in the extended part of the day. As more schools implement the ELT model, researchers are able to gather more data to aid in determining the most effective models. We have evaluated two ELT programs in Hawai’i and drawn conclusions similar to studies across the country:

Over the next few school years, Washington teachers, administrators, and students face a set of revolutionary changes that will fundamentally alter the educational landscape. The adoption of Common Core State Standards will entail alterations to curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The introduction of a new teacher evaluation program foreshadows significant changes to the tenure and promotion system for teachers. And, beginning with the class of 2015, students will have to pass the state’s mathematics and biology end-of-course examinations to qualify for high school graduation. Administrators, teachers, parents, and students who are grappling with all of these changes might wonder why so many aspects of the educational system are changing seemingly at once. 

At my junior high and high school we didn’t have programs that were supposed to help get you ready for college. I figured graduating with a B average would get me into college, but I hadn’t given a single thought to the systems behind how the classes I was taking would affect my college eligibility. I assumed that whoever made the decisions about what classes to offer at our school wouldn’t have put classes on the schedule that would have somehow hindered our future success.

I was lucky enough that whoever made these decisions decided to offer what we would now call gateway classes and college-eligible classes. I was lucky enough that my parents were there telling me I was going to go to college. And I was lucky enough that I hadn’t chosen a vocational profession. But what if I hadn’t been so fortunate? What if I was responsible for picking the classes I needed to take to contribute to my college eligibility? What if I had wanted to join the military? Or become a welder? What if my school hadn’t ensured that all the classes available to me were ones that would help me get to college? Well, I wouldn’t have had any idea which direction to face as I stepped off that stage, diploma in hand. Many students face this problem today; they are grossly under-prepared for life after high school. 

At The BERC Group I have been able to get an in-depth look at programs that are working to fill in these knowledge gaps of life beyond high school. One of these programs is Navigation 101, or what we simply call “Nav.”

This video clip provides a bit of comic relief to illustrate the confusion and frustration with teaching math as well as how you might feel about the changing of standards over the last few years. As a former middle and high school math and science teacher, principal, and a current research associate with The BERC Group, I understand the stresses and concerns which many districts around the nation are facing in adopting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Mathematics and understanding and implementing the eight mathematical practices. District leaders, school administrators, and math teachers are asking themselves: “How will the CCSS integrate with state and district frameworks, how will our current instructional materials and instructional practices assimilate with current instructional materials that we have, and if adopting new curricular materials how can we assure ourselves the new materials will align with CCSS in Mathematics and the eight Mathematical Practices?”

We assisted the Hawai'i Department of Education (HIDOE) with reviewing math curricular materials for a K-12 statewide adoption using resources from The Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas. This process involved a full evaluation of mathematics materials - from standard hard copy student and teacher edition textbooks to entirely digital materials - from 23 different publishers. The purpose of our evaluation was to narrow the number of programs that would move on to the next level of analysis by determining the extent to which the programs aligned with CCSS and pedagogical (instructional) standards. After we conducted a full evaluation of materials, we ranked the programs and recommended them for review by the Hawaii Curriculum Review Committee (HCRC).

We then led the HCRC, which was comprised of 48 K-12 mathematics teachers, coaches, principals, and other math experts, through the process of scoring and ranking the materials in order to identify the top two (K-12) programs for recommendation to the HIDOE for adoption.

The HCRC evaluation process focused on the extent to which materials aligned with:

1. Eight Standards for Mathematical Practice (Instructional Standards)
   
2. Common Core State Standards (Content Standards)
   
3. Digital Materials Requirement and Support (Textbook Overview) 
   
4. Overall Usability and Impression of the Program (Overall Impression)

I observed several successful practices that align with the CCSS and the eight mathematical practices which can be applied by a district considering adoption of new materials. We followed the following four phases based on The Charles A. Dana Center materials for analysis and selection of curricular materials. As an educator, I believe following this process and applying the practices outlined within them to be most instrumental in determining the correct materials for your district and school.

As a member of the BERC team, I visited many schools this year for various studies and program evaluations. Of course no two schools are exactly the same, so I had the opportunity to witness an array of programs, plans, and goals dedicated to student success and to preparing students for their future. Due largely to my background in school counseling, the topic of college and career readiness is one that I am very familiar with and one I very much enjoyed taking a closer look at. One such program I have enjoyed studying is AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) a post-secondary college readiness system. This program uniquely focuses on under-served students while also being designed to increase school-wide learning. We have gathered information about the implementation of AVID at various schools through a variety of means, including focus groups with staff members, parents, and students, classroom observations, transcript analysis, high school graduation and college attendance rates, , and student and staff surveys. As you can probably guess, there were different implementation strategies and varying degrees of commitment and enthusiasm toward the program in each school we visited, but there were several practices that I observed that appeared to be widely successful and that could be applied to other programs as well. The following three practices are ones that I, as an educator, believe to be best practices for supporting students in their education journey from high school to college and beyond. 

As a researcher, the most fun I have is in doing classroom observations. Why? Because during observations we often interact with students while they are learning, which to me, is the best aspect of education. Sure, I love talking to teachers and I love listening to everyone, but, let’s face it, the students are why we are all here. Usually we go into classrooms at first hoping to stay hidden and just watch the lesson unfold in front of us. We want to observe like a fly on the wall; however, sometimes classrooms are full of group work and student discussions so we can freely wander and watch the students work. Students are curious about us, especially the young ones, and this leads to some fantastic conversations. The following is an example of an exchange with one curious student:

As a classroom tutor, teacher, observer and counselor I have heard students ask “Why do I have to learn this!?” and “What is the point of this!?” with much enthusiasm way too many times. As a student, how nice would it be to know why you are learning about decimals in 9th grade algebra or about erosion in 6th grade science? I am sure if I had figured out the “why” behind my algebra and science classes, I would have paid much more attention.

So why is it so important for kids to see the relevancy in what they are learning? Well, not only is there a plethora of research that supports it, we have seen what happens with our own eyes. Kids become more motivated and excited about their subjects when they can truly apply what they are learning to real life and participate in an activity, simulation, or lab that provides hands-on, real-life experience with the “why” of it all.

As observers, we have seen education at its best. It is amazing to see classrooms full of energy and full of students motivated and excited to learn. Ideally, this would be happening in every classroom at every school.

So, what does this look like? Here are two example classes.

Do you remember that fingerpainting mural you did back in kindergarten? How about those recorder orchestras in 3rd grade or the little theatre production you put on in 5th grade where you played President Lincoln? Now, try to remember how they related to your greater academic career… Got it? Probably not, right? If you went to an average public school between 1980 and now, odds are those were isolated experiences, or at the most quarter or semester-long programs you were shunted into.

In recent years, there have been concerted efforts to take arts out of the public schools to make more room for “academic” subjects. Arts offerings have dwindled to almost nonexistence in many districts, particularly those plagued by low standardized test scores as such assessments become the main measurement of student success. However, as initiatives try, and often fail, to engage students in learning and support academic achievement, more attention is being placed on identifying innovative methods of increasing learning. There have always been staunch supporters of arts education, but there are not too many places where you can find a thorough commitment to arts integrated core subject education. A few progressive districts have begun experimenting with such programs, in partnership with various arts education organizations and positive results have been published (Catterall, J. S., Dumais, S.A., & Hampden-Thompson, G. (2012). The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings from Four Longitudinal Studies, Research Report #55. (12) Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts.; Upitis, R. (2011). Arts Education for the Development of the Whole Child. (17) Prepared for the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario, Canada.; Walker, E. M., McFadden, L. B., Tabone, C., & Finkelstein, M. (2011). Contribution of Drama-Based Strategies. (18) Youth Theatre Journal, 25(1), 3-15.).