1. Structuring Retreats to Share Findings and Discuss Recommendations Paul Cobb and the MIST Team

2. Collaboration with Districts October Interview district leaders to document current strategies for improving middle-school mathematics January- March Audio-recorded interviews with the 200 participants to document how the districts’ strategies are actually playing out in schools and classrooms

3. Collaboration with Districts February- May Analyze transcripts of the 200 interviews Identify and explain gaps between each district’s intended and implemented improvement strategies Develop a detailed report for leaders in each district Share findings and actionable recommendations May Meet with district leaders to discuss our findings and recommendations

4. District Feedback Meetings Two hours – conference room 6-8 district leaders – Decision making authority – Mathematics expertise Lead researchers + district specialist(s) – Talk from notes – no PowerPoint slides – Encourage open discussion

5. District Feedback Meetings Setting norms – Design failure For each district strategy: – ToA: Envisioned forms of practice that constitute the goal of the strategy + intended supports and accountability relations – Findings – how that strategy is being enacted in schools – Explain why this is the case – Recommendations for revising the strategy

6. District B (2011): General Framing of the Report The district continues to make progress but two areas where there is room for improvement: – Depth of teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching has not improved and is still below the national average – Quality of teachers’ instructional practices have not improved Description of findings about classroom instruction + why it matters for students’ learning

7. General Framing of the Feedback Report District is implementing a number of initiatives These initiatives as they are actually being implemented have not been effective in supporting instructional improvement – Instructional improvement and student achievement

8. District Initiatives Supports for Middle-Grades Mathematics Teachers – Teacher professional development – Enhanced pacing guides and interim district assessments – Teacher collaboration Mathematics coaches School instructional leadership

9. Findings: School Instructional Leadership School leaders and accountability School leaders’ visions of high quality mathematics instruction Monitoring classroom instruction Professional development for school leaders

10. Recommendation: School Instructional Leadership Professional development that: – Focuses on a small number of high-leverage instructional practices – Aims to support development of their visions of high quality instruction Enable them to communicate appropriate instructional expectations Aligned with teacher and coach PD – Focuses on the same instructional practices

11. Reflection: Negotiating an Instructional Improvement Agenda Researchers have to go 90% of the way: – Take district’s current ToA as the primary point of reference – Explicate conjectures that underpin findings/recommendations and give them significance Researchers’ role is advisory – Ethics – fragile/non-existent research base

12. District Leadership Institutes 1 ½ days in summer Leaders across district central office units Co-planned with senior district leader(s) Overall goal: Develop shared agenda for instructional improvement for the next school year across central office units

13. CCSS-M: Clarifying Mathematical Capabilities Students Need to Develop Mathematics problems from old and new 7 th grade state assessments – Apply taught procedures to familiar types of problems – Analyze novel problems to determine procedures to use / calculations to perform Can all district 7 th -grade students analyze and solve novel types of problems?

14. Implications for Instruction Teachers should: – Pose high-level tasks Clarify distinctions between the two sample problems – Maintain the challenge of such tasks throughout the lesson Proceduralize the task from the new state assessment

15. District Teachers’ Current Practices District mathematics experts – Choice of tasks + maintaining rigor of task MIST data: IQA and MKT

16. Supports for Teachers’ Development of Needed Instructional Practices Curricular resources: – To what extent and in what ways are teachers currently using district curriculum frameworks and adopted instructional program? Mathematics experts + MIST data – Challenge: How can we work to ensure that teachers are making greater use of available resources? – Proposal: Focus teacher collaborative time on lesson planning using the curricular resources

17. Supports for Teachers’ Development of Needed Instructional Practices Professional learning communities: – What should happen if teacher collaboration is to support instructional improvement? – What is currently happening when mathematics teachers work together? Math experts + MIST data – Challenge: How to make PLCs more productive? – Proposal: Leadership + types of activities + protocol

18. Implications for School Leadership School leaders’ current practices – Leadership directors + MIST data To what extent are these practices likely to support instructional improvement? – Articulate a vision of: School leadership School capacity for improvement

19. Implications for District Leadership Clarify the work of: – District mathematics coaches – District curriculum specialists – Leadership directors

20. Wrap Up Review what we have accomplished: – Goals fro students’ mathematical learning – Teachers’ instructional practices – School instructional leadership – District leadership Review resulting plan for moving forward: – Clarify how MIST can assist FWISD