Analyzing The Achievement Gap in Mathematics Education

Michael Fino
California State University, East Bay
Abstract

In this paper, I examine the achievement gap in mathematics through the lens of my

experience at an ethnically diverse, comprehensive high school in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Using multiple data sources, I come to the conclusion that the number of students in Algebra 1

receiving a D or an F is made up of a disproportionate number of minority students. In large

numbers, African-American and Latino students must overcome tremendous disadvantages to

succeed in school, many of which they have no control. Through the discussion and analysis of

various literature sources, I organize these disadvantages into external and internal factors.

External factors are those that the educational system has no power, whereas internal are those

which the school must take full responsibility. Going on to consult and collaborate with

members of my school staff, I explore the ways schools can identify and provide intervention to

students struggling in mathematics at an early age. I also compare and contrast the way different

countries around the world approach mathematics education, and consider which of these

characteristics can be used to improve instruction in ethnically diverse school districts around the

United States. Finally, I lay out some next steps for the mathematics departments in my own

school district, which provide a catalyst for the necessary conversations that must take place to

begin this important work.

Positioning

I currently teach mathematics at an urban public high school, primarily working with

ninth grade students in the subject area of Algebra 1. As I concluded my studies at UC Davis in

2009 with degrees in Economics and History, I realized that the most rewarding experiences of

my young professional career centered around influencing children in positive, impactful ways.

This realization led me to enroll in the teaching credential program at Cal State East Bay in the

summer of 2010. I studied K-8 education in a Multiple Subject cohort and later added a Single

Subject credential in foundational mathematics, which opened up the opportunity to serve the

students of San Leandro High School (SLHS). With ties to the San Leandro community (my

mother grew up in the city, my grandfather still lives there, and I was born there), I truly brought

an eager, hopeful mentality to a school and district that had seen an overall decline in the past

two to four decades. While I cannot pinpoint a specific moment or event in that first year at

SLHS, I quickly discovered that my optimistic exuberance alone was not enough to support the

needs of a large group of struggling, far below grade level, and underserved students.

As my first year at SLHS ended, I was presented with an opportunity to sign a contract

with a more affluent, higher-achieving district. In the end, my strong belief in our co-principals

vision as well as my investment in the San Leandro community encouraged me to return for a

second year. Many aspects of this second year could accurately be described with one word:

improvement. Improvement in my own teaching abilities, improvement of the school culture,

and an improved belief in the idea that we could turn SLHS into one of the top high schools in

the Bay Area. I can largely attribute my own growth as an educator in this second year to one of

my colleagues, Ms. D. In my opinion, she is the best mathematics instructor at SLHS, and

deserves more credit for the tremendous impact she has had on countless students. I learned that
student motivation largely depends on making the material doable and manageable. The results I

attained in my second year Algebra 1 classes were markedly better than the previous, with

passing rates growing by 15-20%. Curricular changes in the current school year run in direct

contrast to the philosophy of making the material doable and manageable, as the level of rigor

exceeds anything SLHS students have seen in awhile. Combining this district development with

other factors, including two middle schools with a noticeable difference in mathematics scores,

and the achievement gap continues to widen. In addition to the research and efforts undertaken

within my classroom on behalf of disadvantaged students, I am leading the creation and

implementation of an after-school Algebra 1 intervention program with the aim of gathering data

for next steps in supporting all SLHS students.

Description of the Context

San Leandro High School is a large, comprehensive high school located in the center of

the San Francisco East Bay. In the 2014-2015 school year, enrollment numbered at 2,601

students, with 142 certificated staff members. Of the 142 certificated staffers, all 125 classroom

teachers were fully credentialed. The school is a melting pot of diversity, as demonstrated by the

table taken from the School Accountability Report Card published in the 2014-2015 school year:

Table 1

San Leandro High School 2013-2014, Student Enrollment by Group

Amongst the 13.5% of English Language Learners, sixteen different languages are represented,

led by Spanish (63.89% of ELs) and Cantonese (13.89%), but including a significant number of

Filipino, Vietnamese, and Arabic speakers.

Within the student body, 60.1% of students are eligible to receive free/reduced price

meals, effectively classifying San Leandro High School as a high-poverty school. In recent

years, San Leandro Unified School District has moved forward with the opening of the Barbara

Lee Health & Wellness Center. Middle and high school students can come here to participate in

academic, youth leadership, social, medical & dental, counseling and recreational activities after

school and during school breaks (Toro, Barbara Lee Center for Health & Wellness). The school

is geographically divided into two campuses, one primarily serving upperclassman (grades 10-

12) and the other focusing on the needs of freshman. The future of the freshman campus is

uncertain, as movement into a block or modified block schedule will likely see an alternative use

of school facilities. Administration and staff are adamant about progressive and inclusive

practices. The school saw a demand for gender-neutral bathrooms, and these were installed

during the current school year. Student led club offerings range from volunteer/service groups to

Club Rainbow, which supports the rights of LGBTQ students and staff.

Out of the 83 mathematics courses taught at San Leandro High School during the 2014-

2015 school year, 24 were designated for the subject area of Algebra 1. On top of this, four

additional classes supported students in remedial mathematics/proficiency development, pre-

algebra, and algebra readiness. Given the high percentage of students at the school studying

beginning level Algebra (33.7%), the value and significance of the course cannot be understated.

The foundational nature of Algebra 1 largely impacts student success in later mathematics

courses in high school and beyond. As large numbers of students continue to enter their Algebra
1 classes far below grade level, the challenge of meeting the already varied needs of students

while integrating a rigorous new curriculum aligned with the common core standards is creating

a crisis within the mathematics department. This trend in mathematics education is by no means

isolated to San Leandro High Schooland it calls for widespread unity and collaboration

amongst mathematics educators.

Data Analysis

San Leandro Unified School District (SLUSD) has adopted a rigorous K-12 mathematics

curriculum this year. When the district worked through the textbook adoption process last year,

it decided that Eureka Math was the nearest to true alignment of the common core standards. In

theory, utilizing Eureka Math will better prepare students for the demands of the California

Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP). Eureka Math is a spiraling

curriculum, and each new year both builds upon and relies on the skills learned in the previous

year. Students entering Algebra 1 as freshman have not benefitted from the previous sequence of

material through middle school, and therefore many are mightily unprepared for the course.

Issues in the mathematics department that have already been identified at SLHS have been

magnified this year, as the measuring stick of expectations has been leveled up exponentially.

The mathematics department is advocating for the creation of an algebra readiness course

to meet the needs of our unprepared students. Administration brought the plan to district, and

came back with a new proposal that included the following section of data:
Figure 1. San Leandro High School 2016-2017, proposal for revised algebra 1 pathway

The STAR Renaissance Enterprise Math Assessment was given to all Algebra 1 students

at SLHS near the beginning of the year. The online assessment measures student preparedness

for Algebra 1, and the results were telling. Of the 816 total students at the school taking Algebra

1, 287 scored below the 25th percentilea statistic administration plans to use to determine if a

student should be placed in an alternative pathway; the traditional sequence of Algebra 1,

Geometry, and Algebra 2 Trigonometry in three years may be too rigorous for some learners.

One such alternative pathway might consist of three semesters of of Algebra 1 and three

semesters of Geometry to build a strong base of knowledge, followed by one year of Algebra 2

Trigonometry in the students senior year. Thirty-five point seventeen percent of students,

ranging from ninth through twelfth grades, require urgent mathematics intervention. Ninth grade

students below the 25th percentile stands at 31.37%, and this number rises for sophomores (40%),

juniors (48.21%), and seniors (52.17%). Beyond this showing that skills are not improving with

repeated exposure to Algebra 1 material, our mathematics teachers at all levels continue to find

students in their classes that are unprepared to take on new content, requiring something different

than what we are providing.

Analyzing the Distribution Analysis by Course (1st Quarter Report Card M2) of the

current school year, I discovered that 202 Algebra 1 students received a D or F. If a student
receives a D or F in the first semester, but manages a passing grade in the second semester, they

can pass their way through Algebra 1 by taking summer school. If a student receives a D or F in

the second semester, they are required to re-take the course the following academic year. While

this overall pass rate in Algebra 1 (75.25%) is slightly more promising when compared to the

STAR Renaissance data from above, many variables might exist that make the classroom grade a

questionable measure of student skill leveldifference in teacher ability levels, variance in

pacing and assessments being given, etc. In further review of the Distribution Analysis, I find

that there is an overwhelming trend of Algebra 1 students receiving As in the first quarter

(25.98%). How can we reconcile a situation where one quarter of our students are excelling,

while at the same time one quarter of our students are failing?

Identification of Issues/Challenges

In a discussion I recently shared with one of my principals, he said something truly

profound. In education, sometimes we rely too heavily on assessment data, which can keep us

from identifying and focusing on students individual needs. In other words, the students we

serve are not numbersthey are people. And sometimes in order to provide students with the

kind of support they truly need, we must engage in difficult, courageous conversations about

what is really happening. This idea led me to look at some more specific achievement results

around the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) and the CAASPP.

Table 2

San Leandro High School 2014-2015, California High School Exit Exam Results
In the most recent CAHSEE results, the overall pass rate in mathematics stood at 77%. When we

compare the results of Asian and Filipino students (95% and 92%, respectively) to that of African

American (57%) or Latino (75%) students, we begin to uncover something incredibly telling and

meaningful. Recent CAASPP results tell much the same story, but to an even greater degree.

While 59% of Asian students, 29% of Filipino and 25% of White students met standards, only

18% of Latino students and 9% of African American students met standards. While there exists a

substantial gap between Asian students and the next two groups, the difference between Asian

and African American student achievement is staggering.

As a teacher of mathematics at SLHS, I am heavily invested in this serious issue.

Therefore, the final piece of data I decided to look at concerned my own students. Using our

online grading system, Aeries, I was able to quickly gather some data on the breakdown of my

students current grades. Quickly into the school year, results in my classes were of great

concern to me. The current level of D and Fs in my class is far beyond the level it was at last

year. (a D/F rate below 20%).

Figure 2. San Leandro High School 2016-2017, gradebook final mark analysis from aeries.net
As the chart clearly shows, there is a tremendous variance in high to low grades in my current

classes. While 36.02% of my students currently sit in the A range (somewhat higher than the

previous data discussed), another 28.57% lag behind in the D/F range, facing the very real threat

of retaking the class. Not the mention the 10 students at a C-, hanging vicariously low to the

possibility of failure. The piece of information that is currently having the most impact is the

percentage of my D/F students that identify as African American or Latino86.95%. I can try to

explain this by looking at the school demographics, which tell us that Latino and African

American students make up 62.3% of the student bodybut I already know that analyzing D/F

rates amongst Asian, Filipino, and White students will further shed light on inequities. This is a

truly sobering realization that will change how I look at my teaching, my assessing, and the ways

that I motivate students.

Literature Review

Through my analysis of the data, I have come to realize the significance of the

achievement gap in mathematics, and I seek to better understand contributing factors to this

serious situation. Specifically, I aim to study and reflect on literature that attempts to make sense

of the different achievement levels I am seeing amongst groups of students in my Algebra 1

courses. I will begin by examining external factors, those away from a childs experience at

school or within the classroom. I will then find resources on the internal factors, those that are

within the control of the childs teacher, school administration, and district.

External Factors

Before a child sets foot into a preschool or kindergarten classroom, they will spend the

first three to five years developing at home. In a study conducted by Goosby and Cheadle
(2009), it was found that babies of a low birth weight will be negatively impacted in their early

childhood development. While the evidence suggests that the impact was primarily focused

within the first five years of life, these children are at a disadvantage from the moment they are

born. Given the high degree of low birth weight in America, and the particularly high percentage

of African American babies (17.8%) born at a low birth weight compared to White babies

(11.3%), the reality is that many children will spend their early school years trying to catch up

with many of their peers. There is a positive correlation between low birth weight and

unfavorable social conditions driven by poverty. Further, Goosby and Cheadle (2009) note that

children who suffer poverty in these stages of early development will have lower levels of

achievement, more behavioral problems and increased mental health problems (p. 1294).

Another potential factor preventing growth in mathematics achievement for minority

students involves home life. Comparing twelfth grade African American, Latino, and White

student achievement levels, Byrnes (2003) found that White students were more likely to be

raised in a household with both parents. The study also found that the parents of White students

had higher levels of education than those of the Latino and African American students. In a

single parent home, I would suspect that supporting their children financially could require

multiple jobs in addition to longer working hours. Parsing the Achievement Gap II, an extensive

report that seeks to identify and explain causes of the achievement gap, notes the importance of

parent participation in their childs education. If a single mother of three simply cannot afford

the time to assist their child with homework or attend a meeting with their childs teacher after

school, we have a blameless situation where the priority of providing basic needs is going to take

precedence. This is an issue related to the distribution of wealth, a much greater problem that

our nation needs to address. Both Byrnes (2003) and Barton and Coley (2009) also note that
African American students lose a particularly large amount of ground when they are not in

school (summertime and breaks), when compared to White students. This might be attributed to

a lack of parental presence or support in the form of summer learning opportunities. Barton and

Coley also make a point of the harmful nature that TV watching can have on student

achievement, specifically finding that a group of eighth grade students who watched five or more

hours of TV per day were receiving the lowest marks in mathematics. Considering parent

education levels, when someone receives a higher education, the likelihood of this being an

implicit expectation for their child is very high.

One final external factor involves finances. Flores (2007) makes the argument that the

achievement gap has largely been created by an opportunity gap. In many places, school funding

depends on taxpayer dollars. In more affluent cities, therefore, the funds per pupil exceed those

of impoverished areas. Flores also states that a large percentage of Latino and African American

students live in areas where funding is less available. A lack of funding becomes a major internal

issue, and its implications will therefore be discussed in the following section.

Internal Factors

District funds determine a number of things, including the quality of teachers that a

district can attract. Flores (2007) asserts that African American and Latino students are twice as

likely to be taught by inexperienced teachers (with three years of experience or less) (p. 32)

than are White students. This trend is also consistent in high-poverty schools, where 20% of

teachers are classified as inexperienced (versus 11% in low-poverty schools). A negative cycle is

created when the students with the most needs in mathematics instruction are receiving

instruction from the least experienced teachers. These trends also exist with out-of-field

teachers, defined as teachers that do not possess at least a minor in the subject they are teaching.
When high-poverty districts are able to attract experienced and more effective teachers, they will

find it more difficult to retain them due to poor conditions and lower compensation.

As Sanders, Wright, and Horn (1997) discuss different variables in student achievement,

they concluded that the most significant factor in student gains are due to teacher effectiveness.

If schools are able to create and deliver longitudinal assessments to their students, teachers can

gather and reflect on more meaningful data. Above all else, supporting the least effective

teachers in the improvement of their teaching will have the greatest impact on student

achievement. Flores (2007) notes that in order to meet the needs of all students, high

expectations must be maintained, utilizing accurate assessments that go beyond a surface level

understanding. Flores also discusses using culturally sensitive teaching practices, including the

use of the cooperative learning over competitive learning. Jo Boaler, a mathematics educator and

professor at Stanford, is a proponent of mixed-ability teaching and providing students with high-

level learning opportunities as a means of differentiation. Boaler (2006) conducted a case study

at Railside High School, an urban, ethnically diverse school in California that has seen a great

deal of growth and success in mathematics. Rather than use rigid, traditional approaches to

instruction, Railside teachers utilize a problem-based and project-based learning approach that

provides students with multiple entry points. The school spends a great deal of time building a

strong culture where all voices and ideas are appreciated. Whereas one student might solve a

problem using a more complex approach, another might simplify it in a different way. An

implication of this case study is that the current structure of most mathematics classrooms is

ineffective with certain groups of students, and we must reevaluate how we can teach best for all

students. A final internal factor explored by Spieghagel (2006) involves a lack of access to

Algebra 1 at the eighth-grade level. The study revealed that greater percentages of African
American and Latino students were enrolled in a Mathematics 8 when compared to Asian

students that were enrolled in Algebra 1 during eighth grade. Also, the schools with the highest

percentage of free/reduced lunch students had the smallest percentage of students in eighth grade

Algebra 1. While teaching Algebra 1 at the middle school level opens up opportunities,

including the greater possibility of taking high-level mathematics courses in high school, the

issue of tracking also comes into play. Ultimately, students should be able to enroll in the class

that meets them where they are at. In the long term, rushing a student into Algebra 1 before they

are ready can do more harm than good.

Summary

A substantial achievement gap in mathematics education is a country-wide crisis, as

evidenced by the data and literature presented in this paper. A number of external factors,

including low birth weight, number of parents in the household, parent education level, overall

parent support, government funding, and household culture, all contribute to a disadvantageous

situation for many African American and Latino students. There also exist a number of internal

factors, including the ability of schools to attract qualified teachers, the overall ineffectiveness of

teachers in high-poverty schools, a lack of high expectations, and the failure to offer mathematics

courses to minority students. The road ahead will be challenging, as a number of the factors

have become engrained into our schools and culture. As our country moves through difficult

times, we can only hope that forward-minded, progressive thinkers will prevail. There is a

tremendous need for courageous administrator and teacher leaders to acknowledge the reality of

the achievement gap, and accept nothing less than the highest standards for their students.
Collaboration

While much of the data that I used came from public sources, some key information on

the Algebra 1 D/F rate through all grade levels came from one of my assistant principals, Ms. G.

Early in the process she expressed an interest to see the work I was doing with the data; I later

found out that she has worked on proposals within the context of my equity plan, which led us to

valuable discussions on the racial achievement gap.

Ms. G agreed that San Leandro High School has a serious equity problem within the

mathematics department. After many years of teaching and working as an administrator at

Berkeley High School, she has seen the way a highly diverse student body and a strong

professional learning community can come together for the benefit of all. While the issues

plaguing the mathematics department at San Leandro High School are not limited to the quality

and performance of its teachers, we collectively cannot be ruled out as a factor. Tension and

disagreement between teachers and district leaders has also been significant this year with the

adoption of a new curriculum and extensive district-mandated assessments. Even if

dissatisfaction amongst teachers with district initiatives is not overt in nature, relational trust

undoubtedly has a major impact on the progress at any school site. Barth (2006) argues that the

relationships among the educators in a school define all relationships within that school's culture.

Teachers and administrators demonstrate all too well a capacity to either enrich or diminish one

another's lives and thereby enrich or diminish their schools (p. 8). Improving these

relationships within San Leandro Unified School District as a whole will go a long way toward

improving conditions within our schools.

Ms. G acknowledged that we as educators need to realize that African American students

experience education in a different way. If we continue to use the same teaching strategies and
approaches that adhere to the long outdated factory line mentality of education discussed by

Robinson (2010) in one of his Technology, Education, and Design talks, we will be doing our

children a great disservice. One of the ways she would like to address inequitable access is by

categorizing, identifying, and ranking students based on all of the factors that might put them at a

disadvantage. To look beyond race or skin color and instead focus on the specific roadblocks in

front of the child will allow schools and teachers to more effectively differentiate and create

more meaningful individualized instruction. She envisions a complex rating system that looks at

many of the factors previously discussed in the literature review as a means of identifying those

students at the greatest risk of failing. Once identified, we can work to provide interventions

early and often.

In addition to Ms. G, I elected to collaborate with one of our new Algebra 1 teachers, an

enthusiastic and progressive minded second year teacher, Mr. H. Out of all the teachers that I

interact with daily, I work most frequently with Mr. H. I wanted to gain a fresh perspective on

the issues of my equity plan, and his contributions took my thinking in a different direction.

Building on the theme of changing our instructional methods to meet the demands of the twenty-

first century, Mr. H felt that the stigma of right or wrong in mathematics educations continues

to be a problem. Overcoming this obstacle will prove beneficial to not only African American

and Latino students, but any learners that struggle with content or that hesitate to engage in the

classroom.

Mr. H also feels strongly about holding students fully accountable for their learning.

Social promotion within mathematics at the middle school level further exacerbates the very

serious gaps in knowledge that leave too many students far below grade level. Mr. H went on to

discuss the way different cultures approach education. He believes that educational success in
other countries can be explained by extreme work ethic as well as strict requirements for

advancement. If we cannot make substantial changes to the system that hold students

accountable for their acquisition of content knowledge, we need to create courses that actually

meet students where they are at. In the current school year, the mathematics department has

expressed the need for an Algebra 1 remediation coursebut the district has been resistant to the

suggestion. The reasons behind their hesitance is not entirely clear, but I suspect that they fear

offering a lesser course will send the wrong message, and lead to accusations of student

tracking.

Considerations

The conversations I shared with Ms. G illuminated the need for a systematic way of

identifying high-risk students in the mathematics classroom. While this would be a time

consuming and labor intensive process at its onset, once fully implemented schools would be

able to focus on accumulating this data in students earlier years, likely in kindergarten and first

grade. The specific factors used to rate high-risk students would need to be agreed upon by

various stakeholders, and many of these factors have already been identified within the Literature

Review. The work of Balfanz, Herzog, and Mac Iver (2007) suggests that identifying these

students in the middle grades is a pretty systematic process. In the sixth grade, if a student

attends school less than 80% of the time, fails math or English, or receives an out-of-school

suspension, they are at the greatest risk of not graduating from high school. If we can provide

additional interventions to these students prior to entering high school, we can improve their

chances for success. My considerations for the support of high-risk students in mathematics will

focus primarily on student intervention strategies to be implemented within the school district as

a whole.
 Working with high school students these past three years, I have come to my own

conclusions on the reasons such a large percentage of students struggle in foundational

mathematics courses like Algebra 1 and Geometry. Gersten, Jordan, and Flojo (2005) attempted

to identify, early in a childs life, which factors predicted mathematics difficulties. Not

surprisingly, their research and analysis overlapped with many of the conclusions I have made

over these last few years. Gersten, Jordan, and Flojo (2005) begin by emphasizing the

importance of automaticity, or the idea that with extended practice, specific skills can reach a

level of proficiency where skill execution is rapid and accurate with little or no conscious

monitoring [and] attentional resources can be allocated to other tasks or processes, including

higher-level executive or control function (p. 294). If a large number of students in my Algebra

1 class cannot instantly retrieve a basic combination, such as 8 + 7, accessing the content of the

course is a near impossibility. Fluency and mastery of basic arithmetic computations such as

these are skills students should be learning in much earlier grade levels, and therefore we must

identify and provide interventions to these students at an early age. Gersten, Jordan, and Flojo

(2005) assert that the development of effective counting strategies also plays a huge role in

mathematical difficulties. Those students that were able to move from finger counting to verbal

counting (without their fingers) were much more likely to move toward mathematical

proficiency. The combination of storing math facts into memory and utilizing strategies such as

decomposition allowed students to think about more advanced, abstract concepts. Young

students must also become proficient with a number line, and must also be able to compare

magnitudes quickly and accurately. The research also indicated that there were definite benefits

for students that received informal training in number concepts at home, linking socioeconomic

status to success in mathematics.

 Considering intervention strategies, Gersten, Jordan, and Flojo (2005) discussed the use

of a computer program that forced students to rely on retrieval of information in their memory in

a timed setting. While this did show positive results for many students, those that continued to

rely entirely on finger counting received no benefit. To remedy this issue, instructors should find

opportunities to teach calculation principals or shortcuts to struggling students as a means of

bridging the gap created by counting deficiencies. While some curriculums are particularly

effective in developing number sense, they are best utilized selectively in small group settings.

Some of the curricular activities noted by Gersten, Jordan, and Flojo (2005) involved listening

to coins being dropped in a box and counting, practice in counting backwards, [and] practice in

linking adding and subtracting to the manipulation of objects (p. 301). While it appears the

most effective interventions are those that will reach a student before a problem mounts and

builds on itself, understanding which students lack these skills of arithmetic automaticity can

inform teachers of higher level courses which students will require extended time and practice to

understand a concept.

In collaborating with Mr. H, I was inspired to learn more about how different countries

approach mathematics education. Leung (2005) makes the point that a simple transplant of

educational practice from high achieving countries to low achieving ones would not work [since]

the teachers and their teaching are so much influenced by the underlying cultural value of the

place (p. 212). I agree with this statement and I believe its implications spread to an area as

geographically contained as the San Francisco Bay Area. The experience of teaching or learning

at San Leandro High School is inherently different than the experience of teaching or learning at

Acalanes High School. Innumerable factors make this so, and it would be unreasonable to

expect that a transfer of practices or structures would bring higher levels of student achievement
in mathematics. However, high quality teaching and meaningful student learning are universal,

and I believe there is value in the information we can extract from countries that have been more

successful in preparing their students for higher level thinking in mathematics.

Analyzing the Third International Mathematics and Science Study, in which eighth grade

mathematics classrooms were videotaped and compared within several countries, Leung (2005)

made some very interesting conclusions. In the United States, teachers are conscious of the

frequency with which they speak, and we seek to involve students through engaged conversation

and discussion. The data contained in this study supports this: when considering the average

number of words spoken by students to those spoken by their teachers during a lesson, the

United States had the highest ratio (1:8). The ratio was much lower in countries like Hong Kong

(1:16) and Japan (1:13), and marginally lower in European countries like the Czech Republic and

the Netherlands. The culture is understandably different in many of these countries, but it does

show that an emphasis on direct instruction, which constructivists and other progressive minded

educators might not support, can result in a high degree of student learning. Leung (2005) also

found that students in East Asian countries learned more new content, which was more complex

and advanced than that being acquired by their western counterparts. Teachers in these countries

were typically scholar teachers with extremely high proficiency in their content areas, and

could utilize more traditional mathematical practices such as proofs combined with extensive use

of mathematical language and an understanding of mathematical themes. The evidence in the

study is clearin the United States we hold our students to a lower standard, and often make

excuses on their behalf when it comes to mathematics education. As mathematics educators we

need not rely exclusively on project-based learning or real-world applications. If the educator

has a strong enough base of knowledge to truly understand the fascinating nature of numbers,
their teaching will lend itself to student engagement and a commitment to the value in

mathematics for its own sake. As a country, we have veered far off this path, and students have

long felt disengaged and disinterested in mathematics as a rewarding intellectual discipline.

Next Steps

The mathematics department at San Leandro High School is in desperate need of strong

internal leadership, and the number of students entering the ninth grade below grade level

suggests an even more significant problem district-wide. I recommend that the district take the

following steps in order to improve mathematics education within San Leandro Unified:

o Assemble a team of district personnel, including administrators from district

office, school administrators, teachers, and parents, to determine the factors (such

as living in a single parent household, socioeconomic status, parent education

level, etc.) that will be used to rate at-risk students on an agreed upon scale.
o Utilize the previously agreed upon scale to rate students based on their

roadblocks. This will be a time consuming and labor intensive process to rate all

students within the districtonce this has been completed, however, subsequent

years should be manageable (with incoming kindergartners and out of district

transfers).
o Work with early elementary teachers (kindergarten and first grade) to focus on

strong instructional strategies to build automaticity in mathematics.

o Design and consistently implement common formative and summative

assessments for grades K-12 in mathematics. At the elementary level, use the

assessments to determine those students that continue to struggle with

automaticity. At the secondary level, use the assessments to identify struggling

students as well as best teaching practices amongst mathematics teachers.

Teachers will use the data to inform instruction.

 o Collaborate with teachers to discuss and explore ways of providing intervention

within the classroom. The research suggests small group instruction to build up

skill deficits.
o Expand the after-school mathematics intervention program to include multiple

teachers using a variety of approaches, including computer programs, one on one

tutoring, and basic skills building.

o At the middle school level, identify those students at the greatest risk of not

graduatingthe sixth graders that miss school frequently, fail math/English, or

receive an out-of-school suspension. Continue to develop interventions to meet

the serious needs of these particular students.

o Provide meaningful professional development opportunities for all mathematics

teachers. These should push mathematics teachers to build an even stronger

understanding of the content they teach, as well as encourage them to bring new

ideas and practices into the classroom.

o When hiring new mathematics teachers, ensure that their teaching philosophy

aligns with the needs of the district. Before hiring a teacher, require them to

deliver a model lesson that demonstrates the way they will instruct students.

This is not an exhaustive list of all the next steps that should be takenrather, it represents a

starting point that will lead to a more cohesive, efficient mathematics department at San Leandro

High School.

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