Introduction
Teaching the habits of mind, advocacy, and increasing student access is a nearly pointless exercise if students are not growing as learners. My school is 5% on grade level in mathematics. It would be a deep injustice if my students did not have dramatic academic growth this year.
Thankfully, during both of my years of teaching, my students have grown dramatically academically. I will present both their quantitative and qualitative growth this school year. The two sections are linked below:
Quantitatively, I demonstrate that my students exceeded one year’s worth of growth over the course of a single year using the standardized assessment i-Ready. This test allows students to show their mathematical growth even if they start off the year dramatically behind, as my students did. Using this data, I am able to get deep insight into students’ growth, strengths, and weaknesses. I used this insight to evaluate my instruction during the year, make strategic groupings, and counsel students one-on-one on their growth.
Qualitatively, my students improved dramatically throughout the year in their ability to explain their reasoning in free response questions. I compare the same students’ work answering an error analysis question on exams both in November and February. In November, I did not have any student fully explain their reasoning to free response questions, typically defaulting to single word answers. By February, students were fully explaining their thought process and reasoning both in math and words. This skill will be extremely useful in their future mathematical careers and life.
Conclusion
My students grew dramatically throughout the year both in their mathematical knowledge and their ability to explain their mathematical reasoning. This has put them on the long-term track to catch up to their peers and succeed in their future endeavors. My students’ results on their i-Ready exam and quality of written responses on tests prove that all students are able to grow throughout the school year while teaching rigorous, grade-level content.
Mary (Vansuch) Silverglate 