Student-Focused Coaching in Mathematics Coaching Model in the Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative, California

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Student-Focused Coaching in Mathematics
Coaching Model in the Silicon Valley Mathematics
Initiative, California

• David Foster
• Director of the SVMI
• Robert Noyce Foundation
• www.noycefdn.org/math/

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"Everything that can be counted does not
necessarily counteverything that counts can not
necessarily be counted."
No Child Left Behind
High Stakes Accountability System
- Albert Einstein
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Goals for the Workshop

• To develop a well articulated vision of a
  mentor/coaching program.
• To develop skills in working one-on-one with
  teachers to improve their instructional practice
  and content knowledge.
• To use student thinking and work to inform
  instruction and improve student learning.
• To explore, discuss and develop strategies for
  facing logistical challenges and other coaching
  related issues.
• To further strengthen a professional community of
  leaders whose goal is to support ongoing teacher
  development that encourages capacity building and
  reflective practice.

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Myth 1 Teachers are fully knowledgeable in
content and pedagogy coming out of schools of
education
We train teachers in universities far removed
from practice, credential 21-year-olds to take
their place in classrooms, and then provide them
with hardly a fraction of the assistance or
support that is given to young professionals in
industry.
Elliot Eisner
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Myth 2 The longer you teach, the better you
get.
Do we really believe, as our behavior seems to
indicate, that more years in the classroom are
directly correlated with better teaching? I
think not. Yet the regular provision of
genuinely useful feedback to teacher about their
teaching is not a normal part of our school
structure.
Elliot Eisner
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Good Teaching is What Counts
The greater part of the failure of mathematics
is due to poor teaching. Good teachers have in
the past succeeded, and will continue to succeed,
in achieving highly satisfactory results with the
traditional material poor teachers will not
succeed even with the newer and better
materials.
This conclusion was made in 1923 by a national
commission on how to teach mathematics in school.
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Good Teaching is What Counts
Through multiple waves of math reform, through
dramatic changes in technology, culture and
schools themselves, what was true in 1923 is true
in 2007 Teachers matter! Horizon Research
analyzed more than 300 math and science classes
in 31 school districts across the United States.
Using trained observers, it rated 59 of
classroom sessions as low in quality, 27 as
medium-quality and 15as high quality.
http//www.horizon-research.com/reports/2003/insid
etheclassroom/looking.php
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Teaching Matters
The greatest school related factor to learning
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Good Instruction Makes A Difference
Good teaching can make a significant difference
in student achievement, equal to one effect size
(a standard deviation), which is also equivalent
to the affect that demographic classifications
can have on achievement.
Paraphrase Dr. Heather Hill, University of
Michigan
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Our research indicates that there is a 15
variability difference in student achievement
between teachers within the same schools.
Deborah Loewenberg Ball
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Documenting Uneven Instruction
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If a student is in one of the most effective
classrooms he or she will will learn in 6 months
what those in an average classroom will take a
year to learn. And if a student is in one of the
least effective classrooms in that school, the
same amount of learning take 2 years.
What Matters Very Much is Which Classroom
Most effective classes learn 4 times the speed of
least effective.
Dylan Wiliams, University of London
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We were led to teacher professional development
as the fundamental lever for improving student
learning by a growing research base on the
influences on student learning, which shows that
teacher quality trumps virtually all other
influences on student achievement.(e.g.,
Darling-Hammond, 1999 Hamre and Pianta, 2005
Hanushek, Kain, O'Brien and Rivken, 2005 Wright,
Horn and Sanders, 1997)
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Teaching for Mathematical Proficiency
The effectiveness of mathematics teaching and
learning is a function of teachers knowledge and
use of mathematical content, of teachers
attention to and work with students, and of
students engagement in the use of mathematical
tasks. Effectiveness depends on enactment, on
the mutual and interdependent interactions of the
three elements -- mathematical content, teacher,
and student--as instruction unfolds
Adding It Up helping children learn mathematics,
Kilpatrick, et. al 2001
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Teaching for Meaning
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Adding It Up Helping Children Learn Mathematics,
NRC, 2001
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Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative

• Math Coaching Model
• 1996 - 2007

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Optimism
"Optimism is an essential ingredient for
innovation. How else can the individual welcome
change over security, adventure over staying in
safe places? A significant innovation has effects
that reach much further than can be imagined at
the time, and creates its own uses. It will not
be held back by those who lack the imagination to
exploit its use, but will be swept along by the
creative members of our society for the good of
all. Innovation cannot be mandated any more than
a baseball coach can demand that the next batter
hit a home run. He can, however, assemble a good
team, encourage his players, and play the
odds." Robert N. Noyce
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Thirteen Years of Supporting Schools to Improve
Teaching and Learning of Mathematics
From 1996 to 2009
Supporting more than 40 school districts 2,100
teachers and 80,000 students annually in Santa
Clara, San Mateo, Alameda, Santa Cruz, Monterey,
Contra Costa, Marin, and San Francisco Counties.
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Theory of Action
Comprehensive professional development supports
teachers in improving Math content
knowledge Pedagogical content knowledge Instructio
nal strategies A coherent curriculum to support
higher level thinking skills
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Acquiring New Skills/Behaviors
Joyce and Showers, 1982
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Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiatives
Pedagogical Content Coaching
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Adapted from LCMPD Mumme, Carroll
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The Silicon Valley Math Initiative aims to
improve teaching and learning of math through
classroom coaching
During the 2007-08 school year there are 63
f.t.e. math coaches working in 36 SVMI member
districts. A total of 756 teachers were
supported with classroom coaching reaching 33,516
students.
Math Coaches are supported with ongoing
professional development including an annual
Leadership Institute, Math Coaching Institute and
monthly Math Network meetings.
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The Best Receive Coaching

• Tiger Woods has a coach
• Pavarotti had a voice coach
• Tom Brady has several coaches
• Personal trainers are coaches
• Psychologists are coaches
• CEO of Fortune 500 companies often have a coach
• Trustees of the Noyce Foundation have served as
  coaches for company executives

Therefore, why shouldnt Teachers be Coached?
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Fundamental Requirements for Successful Coaching

• A trusting, honest, respectful relationship
  between coach and teacher.
• Time for preparation and reflection
• Clearly defined roles, responsibilities and
  expectations
• Effective listening skills
• Strategic questions that promote thinking
• Data collection (teacher/student behavior) and
  thoughtful feedback

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Coaching Discussions
Adapted fromPartnership Coaching, Cory and
Bivens-Bradley
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The key to success is to tie all ideas back to
student thinking!

• The coach-teacher relationship is centered on
  students thinking, understandings and
  misconceptions. The conversations are about
  student work --what they know and are able to do.
  The focus of coaching therefore is centered
  squarely on student learning.

• The goal of coaching is to build capacity and
  trust. The work done by coaches all relates back
  directly to student thinking and understanding
  work they have seen done by students. Student
  work is also the tool for evaluating the
  effectiveness of changes in curriculum and
  pedagogy.

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Collectively score and analyze student work
Administer quality assessment tasks
Cycle of Formative Assessment to Inform and
Improve Learning
Document student thinking to inform instruction.
Leads to improved teaching and learning in the
classroom
Drives the professional development experiences
of the teachers.
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Classification of Coaching Styles
Coach as Collaborator Coach see him/herself
as a resource to the teacher. In partnership
with the teacher, this type of coach provides
materials, information, and encouragement. Works
collaboratively with the teacher in planning
lessons.
Coach give little direct feedback to the teacher
about his/her pedagogy or presentation of the
math of the lesson. Rather, discussion focuses
more on what the students seem to understand and
teachers are free to interpret that information.
Joanne Rossi Becker, 2001
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Classification of Coaching Styles
Coach as Model Coach uses a long-range plan of
working with teachers by modeling instruction.
The instruction actively involves children in
high level tasks as well as modeling the coaching
process itself with the coach as the teacher.
The coach may provide follow-up lessons for the
teacher to use after the model lesson.
Joanne Rossi Becker, 2001
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Classification of Coaching Styles
Coach as Leader Coach is a guide to the
teacher. The direct guidance is effective and
accepted on content issues and pedagogy because
of the way it is approached.
The comments are grounded in what the teacher did
and what the students seem to understand. The
coach and teacher become collaborative problem
solvers in designing next steps in instruction.
Joanne Rossi Becker, 2001
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Pre-Conference
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Coaching the pre-conference

• What did the coach focus on?
• What did the teacher focus on?
• What important information was learned?
• What would you as a coach like to ask that wasnt
  asked by this coach?
• What do you anticipate in the lesson?
• What will you (as a coach) focus on in the lesson?

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The lesson

• Second grade class.
• 3rd day of 3 day lesson on addition and
  comparison subtraction of 2 digit numbers.
• Determine the value in dollars of your name if A
  is 1, B is 2, , Z is 26
• Compare your name with another student and find
  the difference between the two amounts.

What is the difference between the names Melissa
and Stephanie?
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What is the difference between the names Melissa
and Stephanie?

• A 1
• B 2
• C 3
• D 4
• E 5
• F 6
• G 7
• H 8

O 15 P 16 Q 17 R 18 S 19 T 20
I 9 J 10 K 11 L 12 M 13 N 14
U 21 V 22 W 23 X 24 Y 25 Z 26
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What will you focus on as a coach?What
evidence will you be looking to collect?What
role will you play as a coach?
Preparing to Observe the Lesson
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The Lesson
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Brians Strategy
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Discuss the class lesson

• What are your thoughts as an observer of these
  classroom segments?
• What is the mathematics being taught?
• How do the students think alike and how are they
  different?
• Discuss Stevies or Brians Strategy. What do
  they seem to understand? What might you notice as
  a coach?

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Prepare for a post-conference

• What would you say/do in a post-conference with
  this teacher?
• What evidence did you collect to share with the
  teacher?
• What did you notice about student thinking,
  understandings or struggles?
• What did you notice about the students
  relationships with each other and the mathematics?

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The Post-Conference
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Coaching the post-conference

• What did the coach focus on during this segment
  of the conference?
• What role did student thinking play in the
  discussion?
• How was content knowledge addressed?
• What other issues were raised?
• What are the benefits/limitations of focusing on
  student work?

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Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative
Providing Year-Around Professional Development

• Leadership Institute (coaches)
• Coaching Institute (teachers coaches)
• School Year P.D.(teachers with coaches)
• Math Network (support for coaches)
• PIL Meetings (principals with coaches)
• Lesson Study (teacher teams with coaches)
• Algebra for All (algebra teachers coaches)
• MAC Scoring Training (scoring leaders)
• SVMI General Meetings (Admin)

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Thoughts on Coaching by Teachers Who Has Been
Coached
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Case Studies of the Silicon Valley Mathematics
Initiative1996 - 2007

• An Initiative of the Noyce Foundation

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Case Study II A Middle School
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Coaching Improves Teaching and Student Achievement
100 of the seventh grade teachers were coached
in the Target School
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Comparison Study of Achievement SVMI versus
non-SVMI
San Mateo County was chosen to study, because the
member district population has remained fairly
constant for the past three years. Of the
nineteen districts in the study, ten are member
districts of SVMI and nine are not. The analysis
involves data from 21,188 students whose teachers
are not members of SVMI and 14,615 students whose
teachers are involved in SVMI programs. The SVMI
students as a group are generally poorer than the
comparison group. Thirty-seven percent of the
SVMI students qualify for the National School
Lunch Program (NSLP) compared to 30 of the
non-SVMI students. The percents of English
Learners are the same in both groups, 26.
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Comparison Study of Achievement SVMI versus
non-SVMI
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Case Study Relationship between Teaching and
Student Achievement Over Time

• Four years of coaching and professional
  development for a participating group of teachers
  in grades 4 - 7.
• A representative sample of seventh grade
  students (n152) in one district.
• Analysis of student scores on performance exam in
  the students fourth year (7th grade).
• Comparison of the number of years in either
  participating teachers(n21) or
  non-participating teachers(n52) classrooms.

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Students in participating classrooms were
significantly more successful on the MARS exam.
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"Don't be encumbered by history-- go off and do
something wonderful."
Dr. Robert N. Noyce Inventor of the Silicon
Chip Co-founder of Intel
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Pedagogical Content Coaching in MathematicsCase
Study of the Silicon Valley Mathematics
Initiative

• David Foster, Program DirectorMathematics
• The Robert Noyce Foundation
• www.noycefdn.org