California adopted a new K-12 mathematics framework in 2023 with the goal of promoting the complex skills students need to succeed in their education and beyond, including mastery of challenging content, critical thinking, problem solving, effective communication and collaboration.
The shift requires local educational agencies to identify, review, pilot and adopt instructional materials aligned with the framework — but the work doesn’t stop there, experts emphasized during a Jan. 22 webinar hosted by CSBA.
Governance teams play a critical role in providing effective professional development opportunities that help teachers implement the practices necessary to ensure student outcomes improve, explained Linda Darling-Hammond, president and CEO of the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) and president of the State Board of Education.
In response to questions from attendees on combatting negative perceptions of math by parents, she emphasized the importance of engaging families in this area to change the culture surrounding math just as school boards collaborate with their communities in other capacities.
“Math is all around us, and if you see it and experience it in ways that make it clear how valuable it is, it changes your perspective,” Darling-Hammond said. “That’s one of the kinds of things we should get parents as well as students involved in, because you’ll hear people say, ‘I’m not good at math.’ In Compton, a part of their changes these past few years have been STEM-inspired in multiple ways, where kids are involved in so many applications in everything from robotics to science experiments and a variety of other things that are drawing on math for important and meaningful purposes.”
Compton Unified School District Board President Micah Ali noted that the district has worked aggressively to develop partnerships with many of the local STEM-focused industry leaders. While parents are quick to support the work, he said, the negativity around math is still there.
“Many times, parents may not have a high-level of math skill irrespective of education or income, so how do you then dispel that? You bring them into the yearly STEAM festival we host,” Ali said.
The annual science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) festival provides students the opportunity to showcase their innovations and a chance for parents and their children to learn about majors and careers in the arts and tech from industry leaders like Boeing, Apple, Lego, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and more.
Collaboration is just as important when it comes to professional development, Ali said.
“There has to be an intentional focus on developing foundational skills as well as fluency, and then differentiating professional development offerings that are available to meet the needs of that particular teacher,” he explained. “You have to bring everyone into the tent, you have to be able to hear all the voices and develop that professional development strategy around needs assessment and identifying the specific needs of teachers through data analysis.
“You’re empowering teachers to make decisions but refine their teaching methodologies to meet the diverse needs of our students as well as understanding our community,” Ali continued. “And so, we start by targeting professional development — the board fully supports and funds strategies equipping teachers with the essential skills to enhance their mathematical instructional pedagogy to increase student achievement.”
The webinar also included contributions from Kyndall Brown, executive director of the California Mathematics Project; Ellen Barger, Santa Barbara County Education Office associate superintendent and mathematics lead for the California Mathematics, Science, and Computer Science Partnership (CAL-MSCS); and Aaron Carter, senior director of Teaching and Learning at Lake COE and member of the Rural Math Collaborative.
View a recording of the webinar and slides now.
CSBA and LPI released a joint brief that covers the instructional changes needed to implement the new California Mathematics Framework, elements for effective math professional development, sample board policies and bylaws, relevant resources and questions for governance teams to consider. Download it here.
