Milwaukee Public Schools University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

1. Math Alliance Project Building Collegiality Between Regular Education and Special Education Teachers to Meet the Needs of Struggling Students National Council of Supervisors of MathematicsPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaApril 25, 2011Melissa Hedges, MathematicsTeaching Specialist, MTSDBeth Schefelker, Mathematics Teaching Specialist, MPSConnie Laughlin, Mathematics Instructor, UW-Milwaukee Milwaukee Public Schools University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

2. Why Math Alliance? Alliance A merging of efforts or interests by persons, families, states, and organizations…WebsterDictionary, 2012 Research question we were pondering… What collaboration needs to happen between Regular Education teachers and Special Education teachers in order to effectively meet the needs to Teach All Learners of Mathematics (TAL)?

3. Math Alliance Project Milwaukee Public Schools • Largest Wisconsin School District (ranks 33rd in the US) • 80,098 students • 175 Schools: 118 elementary, 8 middle, 18 mid/high, 40 high • Poverty 82.6% (State 39.3%) • Disabilities 19.8% (State 13.7%) • ELL 10.0% (State 5.7%) • Non-white 85.0% (State 25.6%)

4. MPS Students’ Performance on State Test

5. Math Alliance Project Vision • Improve mathematics performance for students in grades 4–8, particularly for students with special needs and for students who struggle in mathematics. • Support a school culture for collaboration of general and special education teachers on improving math learning for all students.

6. Math Alliance Project Project Goals • Strengthen the math content knowledge of general and special education teachers; • Enhance math instruction and assessment, focusing on appropriate accommodations and modifications for special education and struggling students; • Increase collaboration on math instruction of general and special education teachers.

7. Math Alliance Project Participants

8. Math Alliance Project Project Staff UWM Mathematics Education DeAnn Huinker UWM Mathematics Kevin McLeod & Patrick Hopfensperger UWM Special Education Judy Winn & Mary Ann Fitzgerald District Teachers and Specialists Chris Guthrie, Special Education Teacher Beth Schefelker, Math Teaching Specialist Melissa Hedges, Math Teaching Specialist Mary Spidell, Special Education Supervisor

9. Math Alliance Project Timeline

10. Structure • Tuesday evenings (dinner and 3-hour classes) • Year I (Number and Operations) • Math content and Teaching all Learners content separate (Your turn, my turn) • Developed a planning format that combined the two • Math team and special education instructional teams • Year 2 (Geometry and Measurement) • Teaching all Learners content planned to link with specific math content • Mixed teams • Year 3 (Statistics and Probability) • Alternating weeks but working to link • Mixed teams

11. Math Alliance Project Strands Mathematics Content Year 1: Number, Operations, & Algebraic Reasoning Year 2: Geometry & Measurement Year 3: Data Analysis, Statistics, & Probability Differentiated Instruction Interventions Collaboration

12. “I believe that development is more dependent on instruction than on age or biological maturation and that types of instructional experiences can foster, or impede, development.” Pierre M. van Hiele

13. Van Hiele levels • Level 0 – Visualization • Level 1 – Analysis • Level 2 – Informal Deduction • Level 3 – Formal • Level 4 - Rigor

15. Alliance teachers … • The tricky triangle activity. I had some misconceptions about triangles and this assignment helped me clear them up. Learning about the Van Hiele levels helped me understand where I am as a learner of math and what level I want to be at. Understanding these levels also helped me figure what I need to work on in order to get to the next level. • It is easier for me to assess students now because my expectations have more categories : vocab--van Hiele levels

16. Barriers and Strategies Studied for Supporting Teaching All Learners Barriers Instructional Suggestions Explored Vocabulary Cue Cards Multiple representations Alternate Algorithms Task Cards Talk Formats Large and small group work Variety of Manipulatives Cognitive Demands • Reading/Language • Organization • Calculation Information Processing • Visual • Auditory • Motor • Memory • Attention deficit • Expressive/Receptive

17. Tools Developed Support TAL

18. Planning for Differentiation

19. Three stages of an educational collaborativerelationship: Interpersonal, Logistical, Curricular

20. Projects/Assignments

21. Textbook and Intervention Projects Textbook Analysis: • Part 1: Reflect on own learning of mathematics • Part 2: Plan, instruct and collect data around the big idea. • Reflect on the mathematics and mathematics understanding as demonstrated in formative assessment. • Plan differentiation of lesson to meet all student needs • Part 3 Make suggestions for focus and differentiation Tier 1 Intervention Project • Use data to select a small group. • Use activities from class to work with students. • Progress Monitor with classroom assessments based on standards.

22. Math Alliance Project Content Knowledge Distributive Property and Area Model I have learned how the distributive property moves through math from elementary to middle to high school. I now know the importance of using the area model and being able to use it and the distributive property method in multiplying. I’ve used this in my class and it offers me opportunities to present more strategies to my students. ---General Education Teacher

23. Math Alliance Project Content Knowledge Alternative Algorithms The biggest impact has been exploring 'how you get there.' I remember doing a lot of memorizing as a student. Going through the process from addition to grouping to multiplication gave me the words to explain more fully those connections. The activities for multiplication, as well as the different methods of getting an answer have really enhanced my teaching. ---Special Education Teachers

24. Math Alliance Project Content Knowledge Area as Covering & Deriving Formulas Meaning of π I can say that when we discussed area as covering I became clearer in my understanding. Before this class when asked what is area, I would rattle off the formula. ---General Education Teacher I hold a deeper level of understanding of how the moving and combining principles can be applied for various shapes when determining areas. ---Special Education Teacher Another “ah ha” moment was when I found out that you can measure to find the circumference and that it would be approximately a little bit more than 3 times the diameter; always wondered why we use pi to figure area of circles. ---General Education Teacher

25. Math Alliance Project Challenges • Curriculum development • Literacy dominates special education, Limited guidance in math • Understand philosophical differences “Inquiry vs Explicitness” “Explore vs Systematic” • Collaborative planning and teaching • Challenges consistent with K-12 teacher collaboration literature – (e.g., time, teacher content & pedagogical content knowledge (PCK)) • Understanding each other’s roles, potential, and shifts in practice • Range of participants’ content knowledge • Substantial “holes” in math knowledge, lack of PCK (e.g., tools, models) • Being able to put change into practice, harder for General Education • Meeting needs of both Special and General Education Teachers in one project (attrition)

26. Math Alliance Project Addressing challenges • Instructional teams with communication • Using some of the RtI guidance (e.g., IES Practice Guide) • Wrestling with “explicit instruction” with participants • Focusing on identifying students’ developmental conceptual understanding while acknowledging more assessments are needed • Van Hiele levels

27. Math Alliance Project What are we learning? Special Education Teachers • Putting moreemphasis on concept-based learning (e.g., visual models, strategies, alternative algorithms, reasoning, problem solving). • Deepening their mathematics content knowledge. • Offering more in collaboration General Education Teachers • Collaborating more with Special Education Teachers. • Putting more differentiated instruction into practice. • Increasing their expectations of the capabilities of students with special needs. • Thinking about when more explicitness is needed

28. Math Alliance Project Lessons Learning from Math Alliance What has this made us think?

29. Math Alliance Project Expectations for All Students to “Get It” I really believe that I have high expectations for all of my students now. I think when I encountered a barrier previously it was easy to think that a particular student would just never get it. Now I know that I can find at least one strategy that will reach all students. My students are now more confident themselves. We have grown together. ----Special Education Teacher

30. Thank You! Beth Schefelker, MTS Milwaukee Public Schools Milwaukee, WI Melissa Hedges, MSTS Mequon-Thiensville School District