1. From technical to integrated implementation Implementation Trajectory
Leadership Practices to Support Job-embedded Professional Learning in Elementary Mathematics:
From technical to integrated implementation
Jessica Rigby, Anita Lenges, Elham Kazemi, Stephanie Forman, Alison Fox, & Becky Corriell
The Big Question
How can principals and coaches progressively move their teacher learning labs from a technical to an integrated implementation?
Organizational Routines to Support Teacher Learning and Improvement of Practice: Math Labs
We examine how principals and coaches support a productive implementation of a school-based professional development structure, Math Labs.
Updated thoughts from Becca:
Our most recent research questions (from 3/25) are:
How were math labs structured as a form of job-embedded PD? Why structured that way?
How did math labs shape and get shaped by organizational conditions?
How did math labs shape organizational conditions?
How did math labs get shaped by organizational conditions?
How did math labs contribute to student learning?
Do we want to use these ones? (Pretty close to what we have anyways…)
How can principals and coaches use job embedded professional development to implement complex teaching practices?
Implementation Trajectory
This is an iterative and collective process; new learning requires returning to a technical implementation, although we find that as an organization has moved towards an integrated implementation, there is a foundation on which the new learning sits and makes the technical learning quicker and easier.
Technical
Integrated
Instruction
Focus on learning the mechanics of an instructional activity
Learn new ways of focusing on student thinking
Leveraging particular instructional activities to advance student knowledge of mathematics and teacher knowledge of student thinking
Math Labs
Learn the mechanics of the professional development structure
Establish norms of working together so that teachers can take risks
Responsively use and adapt the structure to meet intentionally identified teacher learning goals
Norms for collective work allow for genuine inquiry
School
Both new instructional routines and math labs exist as independent structures
Aligned and coordinated with other school structures/practices/routines (PLCs, evaluation routines, other PD)
Professional Development Context and Design
Cedar Ridge School District (urban)
University-district partnership to provide math-focused PD
23 elementary schools implementing Math Labs
Serves 20,000 students: 60% free-reduced lunch, 70% students of color, 16.5% transitional bilingual
Across the past 2.5 years, each school had 4-8 Math Labs, full-day embedded professional development sessions organized around a cycle of enactment and investigation
Math Lab PD Structure
Learn a new practice with colleagues
Collaborative planning of an instructional activity
Co-enactment of instruction in classroom, with in-the-moment discussion
Debrief and analysis of enactment
Findings Suggest
Frame long-term integration goals for teachers
Leverage ML to shift school culture
Leaders’ knowledge of mathematics and teacher learning are key to their ability to integrate improvements
Research Questions
What are the leadership practices of school-based coaches and principals that support reorganizing workplaces for learning?
How do coaches and principals establish norms and routines that make practice public in service of teacher learning?
How does coaches and principals’ knowledge influence their facilitation of Math Labs?
Supported in part by:
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,
The Spencer Foundation, & The UW Royalty Research Fund
Data Sources
Data collected over 2.5 years in schools in Cedar Ridge:
Field notes from 45 full-day Math Labs
Artifacts used in Math Labs
Interviews with principals and coaches
Half-day shadowing of principals and coaches
education.uw.edu/slmi