How A Rural US School System Makes Gains in Math
2023-10-04
LRC
TXT
大字
小字
滚动
全页
1Many students across the United States fell behind in math during the COVID-19 pandemic.
2Many educators are seeking ways to bring students back up to usual math levels.
3Such efforts paid off for a rural school system in the southern state of Alabama.
4It has shown major improvement.
5A study called the Nation's Report Card shows that Alabama students led the nation in maintaining math learning during the pandemic.
6And the state's Piedmont City school system landed at the top in a comparison of scores from before and during the pandemic.
7Nationwide, students on average fell half a year behind in math, researchers say.
8The Piedmont school system has about 1,100 students.
9Seven out of 10 children receive reduced-cost or free meals in the schools.
10The school system has stuck with a policy it established before the pandemic:
11Teachers use test scores to learn where students are struggling and then target teaching to each child.
12"We made a total transformation about five years ago," said Mike Hayes, the school system's chief.
13"We decided that we were going to let data make every decision."
14Targeted instruction for small groups of students has years of research and evidence to back it up, said Rebecca Dreyfus of the educational nonprofit TNTP.
15"The short answer is that using data effectively and efficiently to plan and monitor instruction is always going to make instruction better for kids," Dreyfus said.
16Piedmont students were 35th in math skills for the state in 2017, when Hayes became the school system's leader.
17By spring 2022, Piedmont's students had moved to the 12th position.
18"Once we made that decision and stuck to it and made changes and allowed our teachers time to look at the data and dive into the data, it paid off," Hayes said.
19As part of the effort, the Piedmont school system made the school day longer.
20This permitted time every four weeks for "data days," when educators get together to study the numbers.
21Cassie Holbrooks teaches fourth-grade math.
22She said the "data days" help teachers see where the weaknesses are and target instruction.
23Sixth-grade teacher Lisa Hayes joined the school system five years ago.
24She said she was surprised to see how hard teachers worked during the data days.
25"When I came here and we had a workday," she said, "you don't sit in your room. You're in here (the media center) most of the day, digging through test scores."
26Teachers then use the information to decide how to divide the students into small groups for targeted instruction.
27Grouping two to six students together to work on a specific skill has long been used for reading instruction and in younger grades.
28There is less research on the use of targeted small group instruction in math.
29But researchers like Dreyfus say it involves the same idea of identifying students who need extra help, rather than simply pulling out children who are "behind."
30While math teachers in Piedmont schools work with small groups, other students write in their math books, play learning games, or work on individual learning plans.
31At first, when Piedmont expanded small group instruction in math, teachers said they did not have enough time to do the work well, Hayes said.
32So the schools expanded math and English language study time to between 80 and 120 minutes each day.
33The longer math classes made a big difference, teacher Landon Pruitt said.
34"In a 52- or 53-minute class," he said, "there's no way you can consistently do (small groups) and work on getting through the standards that you have to cover."
35The schools also had to help teachers adjust classroom management techniques as small groups and independent work would be done at the same time.
36Hayes said one solution was to give teachers a program to monitor each students' screen.
37The district wants to make sure teachers have the support and resources to do the job well, he added.
38"I'm not sure we have a secret sauce or anything..." Hayes said.
39But, he noted that the teachers believe in learning data, and letting that data direct instruction.
40I'm Caty Weaver.
1Many students across the United States fell behind in math during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many educators are seeking ways to bring students back up to usual math levels. 2Such efforts paid off for a rural school system in the southern state of Alabama. It has shown major improvement. 3A study called the Nation's Report Card shows that Alabama students led the nation in maintaining math learning during the pandemic. And the state's Piedmont City school system landed at the top in a comparison of scores from before and during the pandemic. Nationwide, students on average fell half a year behind in math, researchers say. 4The Piedmont school system has about 1,100 students. Seven out of 10 children receive reduced-cost or free meals in the schools. 5The school system has stuck with a policy it established before the pandemic: Teachers use test scores to learn where students are struggling and then target teaching to each child. 6"We made a total transformation about five years ago," said Mike Hayes, the school system's chief. "We decided that we were going to let data make every decision." 7Targeted instruction for small groups of students has years of research and evidence to back it up, said Rebecca Dreyfus of the educational nonprofit TNTP. 8"The short answer is that using data effectively and efficiently to plan and monitor instruction is always going to make instruction better for kids," Dreyfus said. 9Piedmont students were 35th in math skills for the state in 2017, when Hayes became the school system's leader. By spring 2022, Piedmont's students had moved to the 12th position. 10"Once we made that decision and stuck to it and made changes and allowed our teachers time to look at the data and dive into the data, it paid off," Hayes said. 11Teachers go deep into data 12As part of the effort, the Piedmont school system made the school day longer. This permitted time every four weeks for "data days," when educators get together to study the numbers. 13Cassie Holbrooks teaches fourth-grade math. She said the "data days" help teachers see where the weaknesses are and target instruction. 14Sixth-grade teacher Lisa Hayes joined the school system five years ago. She said she was surprised to see how hard teachers worked during the data days. 15"When I came here and we had a workday," she said, "you don't sit in your room. You're in here (the media center) most of the day, digging through test scores." 16Teachers then use the information to decide how to divide the students into small groups for targeted instruction. 17Grouping two to six students together to work on a specific skill has long been used for reading instruction and in younger grades. There is less research on the use of targeted small group instruction in math. But researchers like Dreyfus say it involves the same idea of identifying students who need extra help, rather than simply pulling out children who are "behind." 18Small groups and independent work 19While math teachers in Piedmont schools work with small groups, other students write in their math books, play learning games, or work on individual learning plans. 20At first, when Piedmont expanded small group instruction in math, teachers said they did not have enough time to do the work well, Hayes said. So the schools expanded math and English language study time to between 80 and 120 minutes each day. 21The longer math classes made a big difference, teacher Landon Pruitt said. "In a 52- or 53-minute class," he said, "there's no way you can consistently do (small groups) and work on getting through the standards that you have to cover." 22The schools also had to help teachers adjust classroom management techniques as small groups and independent work would be done at the same time. Hayes said one solution was to give teachers a program to monitor each students' screen. The district wants to make sure teachers have the support and resources to do the job well, he added. 23"I'm not sure we have a secret sauce or anything..." Hayes said. But, he noted that the teachers believe in learning data, and letting that data direct instruction. 24I'm Caty Weaver. 25Trisha Powell Crain reported this story for AL.COM and The Associated Press. Hai Do adapted the story for VOA Learning English. 26_______________________________________________ 27Words in This Story 28maintain - v. to continue doing something 29transformation - n. a complete or major change 30instruction - n. action or process of teaching 31monitor - v. to watch, observe, listen, or check something for a period of time 32allow - v. to permit 33consistently - adv. doing something with the same quality 34standard - n. a level of quality 35adjust - v. to change in order to do better