Building, Supporting, and Sustaining Professional Growth for Teachers

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Mathematics Teacher Leadership
Building, Supporting, and Sustaining Professional
Growth for Teachers
Janis Freckmann, Milwaukee Public Schools DeAnn
Huinker, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
freckmjl_at_milwaukee.k12.wi.us
huinker_at_uwm.edu
New Wisconsin Promise Conference Madison,
Wisconsin, January 9, 2007 Wisconsin Department
of Public Instruction
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Session Goals

• Learn about the roles and responsibilities of a
  school-based mathematics teacher leader.
• Gain knowledge of strategies for developing
  mathematics teacher leaders and how they work to
  support school leaders and classroom teachers.

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Who provides leadership for
Thinking about your school

• Setting school math priorities vision?
• Ensuring consistency in math teaching and
  curriculum across grades?
• Supporting teachers math learning?
• Examining students learning on district school
  assessments and state tests?

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Milwaukee Public Schools

• 100,000 students
• 6700 Teachers
• 184 Schools
• 61 African American, 15 Hispanic, 17 White,
  4 Asian, 3 Other
• 77 Free/Reduced Lunch

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Our Challenge

• Building the capacity of schools for continuous
  improvement toward student success with
  challenging mathematics.

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Learning Team
Math Teacher Leader
Literacy Coach
Principal
Other Key Teachers
School-based Learning Teams are the
infrastructure that allow for distributed
leadership for mathematics.
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School-based Learning Teams

• Nucleus of school planning for improving
  instruction and student achievement.
• Drive school implementation of district learning
  targets and state standards and common classroom
  assessments.
• Plan math professional development for teachers
  and staff in the school.
• Build a school math learning community.

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Learning Team
Literacy Coach
Math Teacher Leader
Principal
Other Key Teachers
Math Teacher Leaders are key for focusing their
Learning Teams and schools on mathematics.
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Characteristics of a Math Teacher Leader

• Classroom teacher.
• Respected among colleagues.
• Uses standards-based approaches.

• Shows initiative.
• Able to access resources.
• Ability to facilitate adult learning and
  conversations.

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Math Teacher Leader Training

• Monthly training session strands
• Math content knowledge.
• Leadership and coaching skills.
• District alignmentmath learning targets, State
  Standards and Wisconsin Assessment Framework,
  WKCE, common classroom assessments.

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MTL School-based Activities

• Keep math as a focus in the school and
  community

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MTL School-based Activities

• Advocate math time for
• Create Professional Development
• Implement Professional Development
• Providing resources to staff
• Colleague conversations on math

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MTL School-based Activities
Coordinate, facilitate, and encourage math
Professional Development
Content knowledge Classroom Assessments based
on Standards (CABS) State Standards and
Wisconsin Assessment Framework and district
learning targets
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Learning Team
Literacy Coach
MathTeacher Leader
Principal
Other Key Teachers
District Math Leadership Math Curriculum
Specialist Math Teaching Specialists
University Mathematics Math Education Faculty
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Math Action Plan to Support Teacher Quality

• Provides a school vision for sustained and
  ongoing teacher learning
• Based student and teacher needs
• Supports a community of teachers learning
  together (e.g., lessons, assessments, student
  work)

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High Quality Teachers

• Formative Feedback
• Examine Student Work
• Design Assessments
• Unpack Targets
• Learning Targets

Learning Team Continuum of Work
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Learning Teams Continuum of Work for Mathematics
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Number of Schools at Each Stage of the Continuum
Over 3 Years
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www.mmp.uwm.edu