Section 1: Academic Achievement - National Center for School ...

So, I made three adjustments. First, I added ten minutes between groups to allow myself time
to process the students’ needs and to give myself a chance to reflect on what just took place in
group. Second, I added time at the beginning of the group to allow students to share news
about their day, their life, or anything else. Finally, I took extra time on Monday mornings to
allow students to talk and make connections to each other and me about our weekends. In
addition to this piece, I added an English word wall that served as a place not just to put math
words but also to put words that assisted us in the descriptions we made about what was
meaningful to us in our lives.
In addition to these adjustments, I sought out research around best practices for teaching math
and English language learners. I read two articles that had a profound impact on how I
thought about my groups. First, there was an article by Marilyn Burns in the Winter 2005
edition of Leadership Compass entitled “Building a Teaching Bridge from Reading to Math.”
This article particularly piqued my interest because teaching reading is my strength and
teaching math is a competence I am developing. Burns gives ideas about applying what
teachers know and love about teaching reading to teaching math. Second, an article entitled
“Teacher Skills to Support English Language Learners,” in the January 2005 edition of
Educational Leadership, identifies a lack of background knowledge as a contributing factor to
why English Language Learners struggle in the classroom. It made sense to me that this
would also apply to H/HM students. If a student is constantly moving, what sense are they
making of curriculum content as it changes from one school to another and what background
knowledge is missing from their skill set as they attack word problems?
Third Cycle
As I pondered these questions, my thoughts turned to quantitative data. In critically looking
at the assessments we use to anchor the math program and gauge student achievement, I
found a major flaw. The tests, formulated by Kathy Richardson, Mathematical Perspectives
Inc., were offered only in English. A core component of the Richardson assessments is the
scripted questions. I could translate the English script, but the translations wouldn’t be
consistent from student to student unless every one of the nine core assessments was
translated into a script. Furthermore, the district required that translations be done by certified
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