I am a middle school principal in Ohio. I want some ideas to improve math achievement scores?

Question

My students took the Achievement Tests required for Ohio in Math and Language arts. Scores in grades 5-8 in math and language arts were low. I have scheduled a 50min. daily intervention time to work on improving scores. Any suggestions how because I want the intervention time to be structured and beneficial.

Answer 1

I just finished teaching math in summer school and one of the things that was very successful for my students was using math think alouds. They are very similar to the think alouds used for reading comprehension. I had fifth graders and the grade level for the class went up 1.3 levels (an average of all students... some went up just barely, others went up nearly 2 levels - this is using STAR as assessment.) I have included a link to an article on using math think alouds in daily activities, but should that not work, I found the article on scholastic.com Best of luck!

Answer 2

My personal problem with math is more how the teachers are teaching it. They'll say something, and I'll be totally and completely confused, then my friend in the class explains it and words it a little differently, and I understand most of it. This may sound a little hard to do, but what I would suggest is find an online learning-style test, and have all the students and teacher's take it. Then, go though, and try to match up all the students with a teacher that has the same learning style. Like, take all the students that learn through doing something themselves, and put them with the teacher(s) that learns through doing it themselves too. That way, the teacher understands the students more, and understands what they can do to make them learn. It may be a pain, but I really think it'll help.

Answer 3

Well we did this last year by targeting our lowest performing math students in grades 3-5. We used extra site funds to pay teachers to tutor these kids 3 times a week for an hour before or after school. We called it "math club" so the teachers could get the club advisor rate of pay (about $16 an hour). Each group had no more than 3 kids in it, and we targeted about 20 kids overall - a few were LD, but most were not in special ed. They focused primarily on the basic facts using a couple of techniques we picked up and working closely with the home for extra math fact practice. Then they provided extra instruction on the current lessons they were on in the classroom with the hope of improved unit test scores as well.
80% of these kids improved their unit test score averages from the previous year. We'll see next fall how many improved on their state math test scores.
Each tutor was able to design their own incentive program based ont he desires of the kids. We used our petty cash fund to reimburse them for healthy snacks and small prizes.

Answer 4

When i was a kid and students were lacking in subjects they had pizza parties for those classes that improved their grades.

for instance, the classes in each grade would "compete" with each other, and those who reached a predetermined improved over all class grade could have a pizza party.

They also had the added incentive that if all the classes in the grade got their scores up there was a "half day" of school and the rest of the day was a "party" in the gym.

It worked out well, because then it wasn't just personal achievement but there was the team factor also. Although there were smaller rewards for those who achieved the highest in each class, such as the added bonus of a private ice cream party with all the other highest score students.

it worked out really well in our school. We all spent about 8 weeks working towards improvement, had the parties, and then set the next goal, worked another 8-10 weeks and then had another party for those who reached the goal, and so on.

Parents were actually willing to donate time and money to the cause. It was nice.

Answer 5

One technique tried at our middle school was a double session/block of math. Each team had two math teachers. We had 4 90-110 minute blocks per day seeing each class every other day.

Another option is to create a math remediation (or reading or la) section in the connections/exploratory rotation. Instead of PE or music, those needing additional assistance use that rotation time. If used as a connection, you could use a computer lab for basic computation games to engage students for skill improvement.

You may also want to see about writing grants to allow after school tutoring for students below a certain score/percentile. I think we had Tuesdays and Thursdays for 6 weeks in the fall then again for 6 weeks prior to the April testing window.

Hope some of these help. Good luck!

Answer 6

I would set up several small focus groups with different interested parties.
1. teachers, 2. parents, 3. students. Ask each group to list what works well and what doesn't anonymously. Then, collect those answers and read some aloud to spark group discussion and brainstorm potential solutions, then, group these solutions together into categories- e.g. - teachers need more time, and then brainstorm ways to acoomplish this goal. All groups will be MUCH more likely to be on board with whatever you implement if they feel they created it. You may also learn things that you did not know that will greatly help you make changes. For example, kids may report that teachers do not grade homework assignments regularly, and therefore kids feel frustrated and have low motivation to comlpete them.
Other ideas - have parent training sessions to teach parents how to help their kids with homework, etc.
Set up a web based system where teachers enter homework assignments and parents can check them from home over the internet- helps keep parents involved and prevents, "I don't have any homework mom" snydrome.
Use community members to tutor after school - e.g. older students for extra credit or rewards (also hones their skills), retirees, etc..
Good luck!! Let us know how it works out!!
By holding this online "focus group" you are well on your way. I bet you will get even more unique ideas doing it at a local level. I love the ideas that others have contributed, especially about making things fun and use real world applications.

Answer 7

We seldom teach the applications of sciences. We need to attract more into math and sciences by showing them what we can do with it. Kids like challenges, is there away to make learning math fun?

We need to show them how math can be used for things such as computer programming or designing games etc. Is there a way you can work with some of the organizations such as the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, Society of Petroleum Engineering to see what is available to your school to help you with your problem. These organizations help schools because we scientists feel by encouraging children at a young age the power of math and sciences maybe they will later become an Engineer or a Earth Scientist so we have a vested interest and that is the development of the next generation of scientists in America.

Answer 8

Hi Penny,

I feel your pain!

I'm responsible for testing at my school (voc ed) and I host our county wide monthly professional school counselors meeting, where, not surprisingly, the main topic of discussion is often testing.

My personal philosophy of improving test scores is to look first at areas that can have a high impact, are low / no cost, and can actually be implemented with little or no disruption. After you've done that and achieved general school-wide improvement, you can then focus your limited resources on the problem areas.

So before you jump into an overpriced software package to try to solve all your problems, you should start with the basics. Ask yourself / your staff these questions:

1. Are my teachers competent?
2. Is my general student population relatively normal?
3. Is there an environmental / school culture reason for the low scores?
4. Do my teachers know which of the thousands of standards are actually tested for on the standardized tests?
5. Do the students know how to take tests in the format used by your state?

Thoughts:
If the answer to #1 is 'no' - you've got a major problem. You probably already have this, but if not check out, The Marginal Teacher: A Step By Step Guide for Identification and Dismissal by Edward Lawrence.

Assuming #1 is yes - then this should be pretty simple!

2. Every district is , um... quirky, but if the demographics are somewhere in the range of normal, then the simple solutions should work.

3. Is everyone stressed out about the test? Is it over emphasized, under emphasized? Making sure that students and teachers understand the tests are an important diagnostic tool and important to the schools image is important, but to beat students and teachers with it causes a host of problems.

In my school I go around to every class and explain to the students what the evaluation is, what it's about, how we use the data to look for areas to improve on for next year, etc. I show them what the score sheets that they get back will look like and I answer questions the students might have. I also make sure that they know that the test has no bearing on their grade, it's a chance for the student to show off what they know. Doing well will make the school look good in the eyes of the community.

Other environment issues are just that. Does the setting of the test increase student comfort or student anxiety? Are you cramming them into the gym? mixing everybody up so they aren’t with their peers / teachers? Building it up like it's April 15th and they damn well better know the IRS is gonna audit!!! - Uber-stress for many students = the big crash.

I test 11th graders - even with this group I make everyone take a 2 minute stretch break after the 1st 30 minutes, If the weathers nice I even take them out and march them around the bus circle. Other breaks as needed.

4. There's a group... Southern Research Education Board (Gene Bottems is the head of it I think) that looked at states standards and found that there is only a tiny fraction of standards are actually being tested for in the standardized tests. You can probably find out from your Dpt. of Ed. which of the standards are actually included in the testing. In Pennsylvania we now have something called 'Assessment Anchors' This is a much abbreviated list of our state standards which are actually considered by the state worthy of being included on our students assessments.

Once your teachers know what the focus of the testing is they can make sure to do review of these concepts before the test.


5. is a 'duh', but this is really important. Do the teachers tests have the same look and feel as your states assessments?


Vision you want to create:

Students will understand that the standardized test is a chance for them to show off their skills and help their school. They are confident that they will know much of what is on the test, but they wont know everything - and that's ok.


Vision for you:
My school's scores will be in the middle of my county, in the middle of my state. By doing this we are in control, not the test. I can then focus our time and resources on education issues that our local community considers important (which may or may not be standardized test scores).


*Whew* that was a lot of writing, but it's one of my favorite topic to present on.

Good luck!

Answer 9

I'd explain why the intervention and then find out what the issues were according to the students and the teachers. Spend your time working on those, offer more help in these areas.

Answer 10

Math is hard. Make it fun for the students to learn whatever math concepts they are working on. If it's fractions, use music. Disney.com has some great ideas for teachers to creatively help their students learn and want to learn. For language arts, you could play word games. I suggest making it an interactive learning experience to make sure everyone is included and having fun while learning!! Good luck!