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You would expect to see Lorenzo Garcia, an 11th grader at Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, walking through the halls of school on a Friday morning. But Garcia is nowhere to be found. Why? Because he is at Kansas City, Kansas Community College taking Calculus I, one of three college courses he is taking this semester, for a total of 11college credits he will earn. Garcia can hardly believe he is already taking college-level math courses, and doing well.
“I love math. It’s my talent, it’s what I’m good at,” he said.
But he might never have discovered his talent were it not for math benchmarking – the framework for mathematics instruction that is used in Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools and is being launched in the Kansas City, Missouri School District to support all students through a college prep math course sequence before graduation.
“If it wasn’t for math benchmarking, and my teachers telling me what they saw in me, I never would have tried so hard,” Garcia said.
In math benchmarking classrooms, students learn from the first day of class each mathematics concept, or benchmark, they are responsible for accomplishing by the end of the semester. Teachers provide coaching and resources to help students learn the benchmarks in the way that best meets their needs. Students take quizzes on each benchmark and must master 70 percent or more of the benchmarks by the end of the term to earn at least a “C” in the class. Students who do not master 70 percent of the benchmarks by the end of the term receive an incomplete and are given extra tutoring and assistance to complete the needed benchmarks to earn a “C” or better. With benchmarking students can no longer complete their math requirements with less than a “C”.
Math benchmarking is more than just a set of discrete math concepts and skills. Math benchmarking is a vehicle for teacher professional development, a tool for providing individualized math instruction, and a strategy for creating a college-going culture in Kansas City’s urban schools. Through math benchmarking, teachers receive regular classroom coaching and support from experts in math and math instruction. This coaching provides teachers with one-on-one professional development and mentoring. Through the use of the benchmarking system and this intensive professional development, all students are supported in achieving success in upper-level math courses.
Most importantly, students now recognize how committed their teachers are to seeing them succeed in math.
“They make you open your eyes,” said Garcia. “And they help you find ways to achieve.”
The Journey Begins
In 1996, only two percent of 10th graders in the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools were scoring at the proficient or advanced levels on the state math achievement tests. That year, the district began to plan its strategy for district reform within the First Things First framework. FTF creates Small Learning Communities in all schools, a Family Advocacy System to connect teachers to students and their families, and professional development to improve the level of academic rigor in every class. By 2004, FTF was off and running, and the percentage of high school students scoring at the proficient or advanced level on the state math test had risen to 14.3 percent.
But district leaders knew a drastic change was needed if they were going to support all students in succeeding in upper level math courses before graduating from high school.
“We knew calculus was the gate-keeper for our kids to get into college majors in math and science,” said Steve Gering, deputy superintendent of schools. “It was no longer okay for us to say some of our kids just weren’t good at math.”
KCKPS leadership knew they needed to bring in outside expertise to make a change this big in their math teaching and learning. They identified UCLA professors Jim Henderson and Dennis Chaconas, both of whom come from backgrounds as urban high school principals and/or superintendents, and now have devoted their efforts to helping urban teachers succeed in delivering rigorous math instruction to all students. PREP-KC provides the funding for Henderson and Chaconas to assist the school district in implementing math benchmarking.
Incorporating math benchmarking was no small task.
“We had to basically create an entirely new curriculum from scratch,” said Jarius Jones, high school math teacher and instructional coach. “When you buy a textbook series, the curriculum is laid out for you, the order… the steps....the level of rigor. But with math benchmarking we (teachers) had to work together to decide what the individual concepts would be for each benchmark.”
Math Benchmarking provides teachers with the tools and support to understand and teach discrete math skills as well as how to pull those skills together to help students master mathematical concepts and reasoning.
"“If it wasn’t for math benchmarking, and my teachers
telling me what they saw in me, I never would have tried so hard."
Lorenzo Garcia
Why It Works
KCKPS has seen the percentage of high school students scoring proficient or above on state math tests rise from 14.3 percent to 39.3 percent in 3 years. One of the biggest shifts brought about by math benchmarking is making all students responsible for their own learning. On the first day of class, students are given a list of all benchmarks in a course. They know what is expected of them, and that they have the supports in place to achieve success. Teachers are allies and coaches for students, helping them master each benchmark by providing individualized instruction to every student.
PREP-KC supports the continuing evolution of First Things First in KCKPS, in part by providing funds for math instructional coaches in every high school. Gering believes one of the keys to the success of math benchmarking is the FTF reform framework they use in KCK.
“We have a system-wide approach in KCK, we can affect things at the school level through our system,” said Gering. “The math instructional coaches are key people. Plus, we have Small Learning Communities where teachers know their kids well and have developed a level of trust. You take all that infrastructure away, and math benchmarking becomes just another program.”
Cristwell knows that academic coaching is another key to the success of math benchmarking. He works with students on the skills beyond math that will help them advance and excel in school and life — things like study skills and communication skills.
“There are a lot of assumptions we make about what our students are already able to do,” said Cristwell. “If they don’t know how to take notes, they can’t do the work.”
Crossing the River
Meanwhile, the Achievement First high schools in the Kansas City, Missouri School District were facing similar challenges in mathematics learning. In the summer of 2007, PREP-KC provided resources to the KCMSD to bring in Chaconas and Henderson to help KCMSD teachers dig into the hard work of creating math benchmarks. To sustain this initiative, PREP-KC also provides funds to create math instructional coaching positions in each Achievement First high school. Teachers and students piloted the benchmarks in a six-week Summer Math Academy, with promising results. Although KCMSD students and teachers are just in their first year of math benchmarking implementation, they have set an ambitious goal of 25 percent of students scoring proficient or above on state math tests this spring. This “stretch goal” would improve on only 8 percent of their students scoring proficient or above in math last year.
Southeast High School math teacher Tonia Pratt initially signed on to teach for the first three weeks of the academy, but she opted to stay with the group through the entire six-week academy.
“I couldn’t leave,” Pratt said. “I was too invested in these kids.”
And the students were invested as well. They even voted to cancel a special field trip during the summer academy to ensure they would be able to finish all of their benchmarks.
The Road Ahead
With PREP-KC’s support, math benchmarking continues on both sides of the state line. In 2007, KCKPS began using math benchmarking in their middle schools, while KCMSD is in their first full year of implementing math benchmarking in all Algebra and Geometry classes in the Achievement First high schools.
And what about Lorenzo? He still marvels at his new found love of math.
“If you saw me --a Mexican kid whose parents only completed the sixth grade-- you’d never think I was good at math,” said Garcia.
He now knows math is not just his talent, it’s the key to his dream career.
“I want to go to a four year college and get an engineering degree.”
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