New Report Profiles Three High Schools That Crack the Code for Effective Math Instruction

SEATTLE -- A new report released today shows how three public high schools in communities across the country are preparing students to be college and career ready with access to high-level math classes and support to help them succeed.

Rethinking High School: Supporting All Students to be College-Ready in Math is the fifth in a series of reports by WestEd, a non-profit education research firm. The report, commissioned by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, profiles programs serving a diverse range of students in Bellevue, Wash.; Norfolk, Va.; and Boston, Mass. Their specific approaches vary, but students in each school have demonstrated improvement on proficiency tests. The full report is available from the WestEd Web site.

Researchers found the schools share three elements common to effective math programs:

• Offering high-level math courses and support for all students;
  
  
• Providing intensive professional development for teachers to improve their subject knowledge and teaching skills;
  
  
• Using student progress and evaluations to help teachers tailor their lessons.

"High schools across America face many of the same obstacles in helping students succeed in math," said Tracy Huebner, senior researcher at WestEd and the lead author of the Rethinking High School series. "With high expectations for all students, opportunities for teachers to deepen their content knowledge, and continuous follow-up and support for students every step of the way, the three schools featured in this report serve as models to other communities struggling to deliver an effective math curriculum."

In March 2008, the National Mathematics Advisory Panel reached similar conclusions—that knowledgeable teachers and effective instruction are critical to student achievement. The three profiles in the report show how schools create effective math programs.

• Interlake High School, in Bellevue, Wash., once the lowest-performing school in the district, implemented a rigorous AP and IB curriculum open to the entire student body, eliminated basic math courses, and now encourages all students to complete pre-calculus prior to graduating. With consistent student support, especially for entering 9th-grade students who struggled with math in middle school, Interlake has seen the number of 10th-grade students scoring proficient and above on the math portion of Washington’s assessment test increase from 49 percent in 2003-2004 to 73 percent in 2006-2007.
  
  
• Granby High School, in Norfolk, Va., has benefited from a strong focus on professional development in Norfolk Public Schools over the past decade. New teachers at Granby get three years of coaching and support, and math teachers meet as a team to plan lessons and chart student progress. The focus on improving teachers' content knowledge pays off—84 percent of students at Granby passed algebra I in 2006-2007, compared to 17 percent in 1998-1999.
  
  
• Fenway High School, in Boston, Mass., part of the Boston Pilot Schools, requires all students not only to take and pass four years of math to graduate, but also to demonstrate their mastery of math concepts in a variety of ways, including presentations, portfolio work, and in-class discussion. Teachers then use these diverse assessments to shape the way they teach. As a result, test scores, attendance, graduation, and college placement rates have all increased over the past few years.

"We know that all students benefit from taking higher-level math courses, and we welcome states and school districts requiring more math to graduate," said Vicki Phillips, director of education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "But we must match these higher expectations with strong support for effective teaching and learning that closely monitors and addresses students’ needs so they can succeed in math."

Math is critically important in today's education and job market. According to the Education Commission of the States, students who do not take and pass a rigorous sequence of math courses—including geometry and algebra II—are ineligible for admission to many four-year colleges and universities. With almost two-thirds of future jobs expected to require college-level math skills, students who take only basic math courses may limit their future economic opportunities.

Nationally, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its partners are focused on increasing graduation and college readiness rates by supporting the creation of new high-quality high schools and the transformation of existing low-performing high schools into more focused and effective learning environments. To date, the foundation has invested more than $1.9 billion to improve high schools, supporting more than 1,800 schools in 47 states and the District of Columbia.

###
WestEd
WestEd is a nonprofit research, development, and service agency, works with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults. While WestEd serves the states of Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah as one of the nation's Regional Educational Laboratories, the agency's work extends throughout the United States and abroad. It has 14 offices nationwide, from Washington and Boston to Arizona, Southern California, and its headquarters in San Francisco.