Everything You Need for Mathematics Coaching


Book Description

Math coaches wear many hats. You think on your feet and have to invent, react, and respond—often without time to prepare—in a myriad of professional contexts. What’s your go-to resource for support? Plan, focus, and lead: Your toolkit for inspiring math teachers Meet Everything You Need For Mathematics Coaching: Tools, Plans, and a Process That Works for Any Instructional Leader. This one-stop, comprehensive toolkit for improving mathematics instruction and learning is designed for busy math coaches and teacher leaders who often have to rely on their own competencies. Using the Leading for Mathematical Proficiency Framework, the authors position student outcomes as the focus of all professional work and connect the Eight Mathematical Practices for students with NCTM’s Eight Effective Teaching Practices to help you guide teachers toward growing mathematics proficiency in their classrooms. This hands-on resource details critical coaching and teaching actions, and offers nearly a hundred tools for: Shifting classroom practice in a way that leads to student math proficiency and understanding of mathematical concepts. Honing in on key areas, including content knowledge and worthwhile tasks, student engagement, questioning and discourse, analysis of student work, formative assessment, support for emergent language learners and students with special needs, and more. Navigating a coaching conversation. Planning and facilitating professional learning communities. Finding a focus for professional development or a learning cycle. Making connections between professional learning activities, teaching, and student learning. Using the coaching cycle—plan, gather data, reflect—to build trust and rapport with teachers. With examples from the field, a comprehensive list of resources for effective coaching, and a plethora of tools you can download and share with teachers, this toolkit is your must-have guide to designing a professional learning plan and leading with clarity and purpose.




Elementary Mathematics Specialists


Book Description

Elementary mathematics specialists are teacher leaders who are responsible for supporting effective PK–6 mathematics instruction and student learning. The Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators (AMTE), the Association of State Supervisors of Mathematics, the National Council of Supervisors of Mathematics, and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, in a 2010 joint position paper on Elementary Mathematics Specialists (EMSs), all advocate for the use of EMSs to support the teaching and learning of mathematics. The specific roles and expectations of EMSs will vary according to the needs of each setting, “but their expertise and successful experience at the elementary level is critical” (p 1). Elementary Mathematics Specialists: Developing, Refining, and Examining Programs that Support Mathematics Teaching and Learning is AMTE’s latest resource supporting the important work of EMSs. It has five sections related to the preparation and professional development of EMSs: (a) Overview and Current State of Affairs; (b) Models of EMS Program Development & Delivery; (c) Supporting EMSs in the Field; (d) The Mathematics Specialist Research; and (e) Future Directions. The book provides support to EMS practitioners, program providers/developers, and researchers seeking to answer important questions about how to prepare Mathematics Specialists, support them in the field, and research their effectiveness.










The Efficacy of Math Coaching


Book Description

There is a lack of implementation of instructional strategies to assist middle school teachers in improving mathematics education for their students. Coaching is one solution to this problem, but its impact on student achievement is unclear. This case study evaluated the relationship between coaching and teacher efficacy and the impact of these constructs on mathematics student achievement at a charter school in the southern United States. The study was based on the theory of instructional coaching as a model for teachers' professional development. A dependent samples "t" test was used to analyze district quarterly mathematics data from the Northwest Education Association Measure of Academic Progress (nwea map) during the implementation of coached strategies. The analysis indicated a significant increase in mathematics achievement from 3rd to 4th quarter for 400 students in grades five through eight, "t"(399) = -4.011, p =0.028. Surveys, journals, and interviews were also used to determine how coaching recommendations were implemented, the degree of teacher support received, and perceptions among teachers and the coach. A line-by-line analysis of participants' responses was conducted, leading to the disclosure of themes that were used to determine efficacy of the program. The major findings were the need to develop the role of the coach; increase teacher learning through observation; schedule sufficient time for teachers and the coach to collaborate on student learning; and work to improve teacher self-efficacy. This study could contribute to positive social change by demonstrating how coaches can assist educators in changing mathematical teaching strategies to align with students' needs in the 21st century to appropriately educate students for life in a technological world facing major and continuing challenges.