Many Colorado math teachers aren’t familiar with state math standards and aren’t teaching the subject in a way that reaches diverse learning styles, a 10-month review by the Colorado Department of Education found.
“I don’t think that teachers are comfortable with math,” said Jo O’Brien, assistant to the commissioner in the office of learning and results. Staffers interviewed more than 800 teachers, policymakers, parents, students and media.
Repeatedly, teachers said: “I’m not really comfortable with math … I wasn’t good at it (in school),” O’Brien said.
“The State’s Prime Numbers,” a 60-page report released Wednesday, also offered a dismal picture of Colorado students’ ability to do grade-level math. Just 34 percent of eighth-graders and 34 percent of fourth-graders were proficient on the National Assessment of Educational Progress test.
And three years of data compiled from the Colorado Student Assessment Program – the state’s own assessment test – showed that no more than 59 percent of the fifth- through 10th-grade classes tested were capable of doing math at grade level.
Among 10th-graders, less than 27 percent were able to do 10th-grade math last year.
Poor math performance is a national trend, O’Brien said.
But the report also highlighted significant gains in nearly 50 high-poverty districts, including Denver’s Wyatt-Edison Charter School, Westminster High School and 16 elementary schools in the Pueblo 60 School District.
In those districts, students were scoring as much as 38 percent better than predicted for schools with high numbers of students receiving free or reduced-price meals.
The difference, the report found, was that teachers in those schools had a solid grasp of the state’s standards for math.
The math standards were developed by educators and adopted by the State Board of Education in 1995. The standards outline what math students should know in grades three through 10.
More successful students, the report found, were also regularly monitored, and taught by teachers who used various approaches to teach the same math concept.
Tera Gottbrath, math curriculum coordinator and fourth- grade teacher at Wyatt-Edison, where middle-schoolers performed 33.5 percent better than expected, said teachers understand state standards because they constantly review them throughout the year.
Lessons also go beyond “numbers in isolation,” she said. Teachers find practical uses for math, such as relating numbers to money. “They see meaning in numbers.”
Dorothy Gottlieb in the state’s education licensure department said new state requirements will result in teachers having a better handle on Colorado’s math standards.
A new law will require teachers to take more strenuous courses in their subject in order to get re-licensed.
“It’s supposed to be more focused and more rigorous,” said Gottlieb. “Past rules didn’t require teachers to stay in their subject.”
And since 2003, new teacher candidates are trained under State Board of Education rules that take into account what students need to know to do well on the CSAP.
“The vast majority of teachers so far have not been trained under teacher … standards that are based on what the student is supposed to know,” Gottlieb said.
Staff writer Karen Rouse can be reached at 303-820-1684 or krouse@denverpost.com.
Making the grade
Common factors among low-income districts that showed strong math gains:
Math teachers knew the math standards and the math content. In some cases, there was professional development. In others, the math was inherent in the teacher education and preparation.
Math lessons found in textbooks were supplemented with practical activities.
Teachers focused on student outcomes rather than just on the math lesson.
In every school where math gains were strong, teachers regularly monitored student progress.
Source: Colorado Department of Education report, “The State’s Prime Numbers”
