District Administration - March 2007 - (Page 108)

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The American Educational Research Association AERA explains in its fall 2006 Research Points that two types of cognitive demand are associated with student performance on achievement tests. The ﬁrst has to do with the number and kind of mathematics courses taken. The second relates to how much thinking is called for in the classroom. In both cases, more is better. ESSENTIALS ON EDUCATION DATA AND RESEARCH ANALYSIS FROM EDVANTIA Steps to improve K8 mathematics programs The National Research Council concluded in 2001 that many elementary and middle school teachers have only a shaky grasp of mathematics themselves and often are unable to clarify concepts for students or solve problems that involve more than basic calculations. Professional development for K8 teachers may be a prerequisite to the council’s recommendation of a coord i nated and systematic approach to K8 mathematics education. Greater program coherence and in-depth coverage of selected content, from preschool to eighth grade, is the apparent goal of recommendations released in 2006 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics NCTM . NCTM’s Curricular Focal Points identiﬁes key skills or concepts per grade level, such as quick recall of addition and subtraction facts in the second grade, and quick recall of multiplication and division facts in the fourth grade. Only about a fourth of all student s nationally take algebra in the eighth grade, but several studies have shown that students who take this gateway course are more likely to continue taking high-level math classes through high school. The Southern Regional Education Board SREB ﬁ nds that students entering college are less likely to need remed iat ion if they have completed challeng i ng academic courses in high school, including a high-level mathemat ic s course in their senior year. A ER A reports that a common practice is to sort students by perceived ability and assign them to fast or slow speeds of learning. Students taking a “slow track” course will most likely not cover as much by the end of the school year and may not be adequately prepared for highlevel mathematics courses. RESOURCES American Educational Research Association w w w.aer a.ne t / The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics www.nctm.org/ The National Research Council w w w.na tionalacademie s.or g / nr c / Review of High Quality Experimental Mathematics Research i d e a . u o r e g o n . e d u / ~ n ci t e / d o c u m e n t s / m a t h / r e p o r t .p d f Southern Regional Education Board w w w.sr eb.or g / Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study n c e s .e d . g o v / t im s s / Strategies for Improving Student Achievement 1. Increase students’ opportunity to learn by increasing their exposure to key concepts and skills. 2. Teach for meaning and understanding of key concepts. 3. Allow for discovery and analysis of procedures as well as practices. 4. Incorporate small-group work and whole-class discussion. 5. Develop “number sense” intuitive feel for number size and combinations . 6. Use concrete materials and calculators. S ourc e : Grumbine & Alden, 2006 W hen Robert Dixon and colleag ues Review of High Quality Experimental Mathematics Research, 1998 reviewed ﬁ ndings from 110 experimental research reports, they concluded that effective mathematics lessons do not require students to apply new knowledge independently until they have demonstrated an ability to do so successfully. Research supports the idea that students beneﬁt academically when teachers frequently check for understanding and use a variety of strategies to engage students’ thinki ng. Effective strategies can include reﬂective journals, cooperative learning, and whole-class discussion, especially when used to share, explain, and examine a variety of approaches to solving a problem. DA For citation of the references used in this article, go to www.districtadministration.com www.edvantia.org, 800-624-9120 108 March 2007 District Administration DA_307_ResearchCorner.inddKRJF.indd 1 2/13/07 11:05:59 AM Warning : Unknown : The session id contains invalid characters, valid characters are only a-z, A-Z and 0-9 in Unknown on line 0 Warning : Unknown : Failed to write session data files . Please verify that the current setting of session.save_path is correct /var/lib/php/session in Unknown on line 0 http://www.aera.net/ http://www.nctm.org/ http://www.nationalacademies.org/nrc/ http://idea.uoregon.edu/~ncite/documents/math/report.pdf http://www.sreb.org/ http://nces.ed.gov/timss/ http://www.DistrictAdministration.com http://www.edvantia.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - March 2007

Contents
Editor's Letter
Update
Inside the Law
Curriculum Update
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Friday Night Fever
Creating an Effective Virtual School Program
Hunting for Talent
Multimedia Man
Do These Web Sites Work?
Finding Funds for Student Laptops
Curriculum Crassifieds
Gearing Up for Science Assessments
New Products
Computer Literature
Speaking Out
Principal Opinion
The Online Edge
Calendar of Events
Problem/Solution
Research Corner

District Administration - March 2007