EQUITY AND ACCESS TO HIGH-QUALITY INSTRUCTION IN MIDDLE SCHOOL MATHEMATICS

Kara JacksonMcGill University

Collaborators on SGER work: Paul Cobb, Glenn Colby, Anne Garrison, Lynsey Gibbons, Bob Jiménez, Rich Milner, Rebecca Schmidt, Emily Shahan, & Jonee Wilson; Vanderbilt University

Melissa Boston, Duquesne University

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SPECIFYING A VISION OF AMBITIOUS AND EQUITABLE INSTRUCTION

If instruction was equitable, all students would be supported to participate substantially in each phase of a mathematics lesson Not necessarily in the same ways

Specify concrete forms of instructional practice that are learnable in the context of high-quality professional development

Jackson, K., & Cobb, P. (under review). Refining a vision of ambitious mathematics instruction to address issues of equity.

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AMBITIOUS VISION OF MATHEMATICS INSTRUCTION

(e.g., McClain, 2002; NCTM, 2000; Stein, Engle, Smith, & Hughes, 2008; Stein, Henningsen, & Silver, 2000)

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AMBITIOUS AND EQUITABLE VISION OF MATHEMATICS INSTRUCTION

Jackson, K., Shahan, E., Gibbons, L., & Cobb, P. (under review). Launching tasks to support all students’ learning.

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REVISED QUESTION

What does it take to support middle-grades mathematics teachers’ development of ambitious and equitable instructional practices on a large scale?

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NEXT STEPS: SUPPORTING AMBITIOUS & EQUITABLE TEACHING AT SCALE

Test and refine a comprehensive set of hypotheses regarding the development of an instructional system and the practices of the various role groups organized around ambitious and equitable

teaching

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COMPONENTS OF AN INSTRUCTIONAL SYSTEM Explicit goals for students’ mathematical learning Vision of ambitious & equitable mathematics instruction—

concrete instructional practices Instructional materials Pull-out professional development (PD) focused on specific

forms of practice, organized around materials, sustained over time

Teacher collaborative time focused on specific forms of practice that have been focus on pull-out PD

Student assessments that focus on above learning goals and can inform ongoing improvement of mainstream instruction identification of students who are currently struggling and require

additional support

(e.g., Bryk, 2009; Lampert, Boerst, & Graziani, 2011)

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SUPPORTING AMBITIOUS & EQUITABLE TEACHING AT SCALE

Hypothesis: Development of an instructional system will support improvement in teachers’ Vision of high-quality mathematics instruction Vision of students’ mathematical capabilities

(Horn, 2007) Mathematical knowledge for teaching (Hill,

Schilling, & Ball, 2004) Quality of instruction

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SUPPORTING AMBITIOUS & EQUITABLE TEACHING AT SCALE

Development of a coherent instructional system organized around ambitious and equitable goals for teaching has implications for various role groups’ practices e.g., Coaches, Principals, District leaders

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PRODUCT Empirically-grounded theory of action for the

development of ambitious and equitable instruction in middle-grades mathematics