I worked as an educational consultant to recommend a mathematics curriculum for New School in Watsonville, California. New School, a Community Day High School located in Watsonville, California, is in the process of redefining its goals for students. The school, founded to offer intensive socio-emotional support and an accelerated credit recovery program, has grown from 20 students to 70 students over the last 15 years. For many years academic instruction took a back seat to counseling and therapeutic interventions. The school's principal and district supervisor retired in December 2008, spurring an examination of the school's academic structure.
I delivered a report that:
Contains an analysis of New School’s student performance in mathematics for the last three school years
Reviews the current curricular resources
Examines math classes at alternative schools in the same district
This formed the basis of specific curricular and pedagogical recommendations for New School.
Link to Standard
Data collection was the logical starting point for this project. Although my time line for completion was short, I recognized the importance of gaining a comprehensive understanding of the learners, their past performance, the environment, and specific learning material's effectiveness. Dr. Bober, my client, and I worked closely to develop a data collection plan that considered the numerous factors supporting a curriculum recommendation. My recommendation was informed entirely by the data that I collected.
Type of Data Collection
Data Source
Relevance to Report
Literature Review
Report from the American Educational Research Association
No Child Left Behind Legislation
Findings from report on upgrading mathematics instruction for parallel population in CA
Legislative implications of student performance
Performance Analysis
New School's School Accountability Report (3 years)
Longitudinal student state test data
Cause Analysis
Interview and survey of New School faculty and staff
Identify and delineate performance factors relating to students skills, knowledge, motivation, and environment
Environmental Scan
Observation, interview, and survey of alternative high school math teachers
Comparative data, identification of curricular elements and best practices
Results from two curriculum pilots
Rapid pilot of two mathematics curriculum's resources and teacher supports
Preliminary evaluation of readily available curriculum resources
Challenges and Opportunities
Several challenges arose during the development of my report. I am the school's only math teacher, forcing me to wear two hats simultaneously throughout the project. Bias can affect reporting when the researcher is one of the subjects. I attempted to maintain objectivity throughout the project and keep my role as math teacher separate from the role of consultant. A tight turnaround time line for completion made it necessary for me to gather data quickly. Given more time, I would conduct a broader literature review, conduct the environmental scan described above with a much larger sample population, and formally evaluate the curriculum's pilot.
The project afforded the opportunity to learn more about my school site, form collaborative relationships with teachers in my district, and test curriculum with my students. I also gained insight into the legislation affecting school funding and my school's historical performance on standardized tests. Finally, I gained real-world practice using the ARDDIE model to structure my work.
Professional and Personal Growth
I have a tentative personality and consider myself a "behind the scene" kind of worker. This project forced me out out my comfort zone because I had to actively seek out other math teachers then request survey completion, personal interviews, and classroom observations; The investigative work in the project boosted my soft people skills and now I am much more comfortable initiating contact with individuals. Working through the planning for data collection taught me to consider the different sources that would strengthen my findings. I learned the importance of a well constructed survey and that I should schedule ample time to the refinement of the instrument. Feedback from my client revealed the aspects of the work that were most important to her, lending insight into the mind of the client. Our country is shifting instructional paradigms to accommodate a post-industrial economy. In this project I gained skills and practice that would allow me to collect and analyze data to support the restructure of a learning environment with emerging needs.
References
Gamoran, A, Porter, A.C., Smithson, J. & White, P.A. (1997). Upgrading High School Mathematics Instruction: Improving Learning Opportunities for Low-Achieving, Low-Income Youth. American Educational Research Association., Retrieved on April 19, 2009, from American Educational Research Association.
