Secondary specific workshops boost rigor and engagement
Milpitas High School
Milpitas, CA
-
3,163 students
-
Urban setting
-
30% free reduced lunch
-
13% English language learners
-
12 math department teachers
The Challenge
While the school outperforms the state average in mathematics, when data is broken down by race, english language acquisition status, and other measures of equity, there is a discrepancy in math performance, especially at the Integrated Math 1 level. Additionally the math department culture was negative and divisive.
Scope Of Work
#1) Professional Development
In our initial year of collaboration I provided multiple days of professional development centered around strategies to increase engagement and rigor, with a focus on Math 1 and 2 content. In our second year of work together, we dove into the challenging topic of grading equity.
#2) Department Chair Coaching
Each month I virtually met with the department chairs to provide leadership coaching and equip them to lead transformational math department meetings.
The Results
Survey results conducted at the end of each year show that teachers who attend my PD are feeling better equipped to reach ALL students more effectively:
-
84% of teachers who attended our PD said they were “extremely likely” to use a strategy presented in the session
-
3 teachers were observed using strategies from the workshop the very next day in their classrooms during instructional rounds
Additionally, after the math department chair coaching, the math department satisfaction of how department collaboration time is spent increased from 3.4 to 4.2 on a scale of 1-5, 5 being highest satisfaction within our first year of work together!