Ed Official explains why. It is changing how children learn mathematics | Education

A few years after Louisiana pushed schools to adopt a New and systemic approach for reading instructionEducation officials want to renew the way students learn mathematics.

Last month, the State emerged as an unexpected literacy leader after the scores in a national test saw Louisiana jump from 50 in the nation for fourth grade reading in 2019 to 16th last year.

The officials attributed the profits to a series of laws and policies that encouraged schools that their educators systemically teach students about the foundations of reading. The State now aims to do something similar with mathematical instruction, which the Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley has called an “return to basic” approach.

Jamie Hebert, Mathematics Director of the State Department of Education and a former Mathematics Master who runs a curriculum team and standard specialists, is helping to lead the position.

He explained that a strategy of return to schedules means building fundamental mathematical skills and using frequent evaluations to identify students who need additional help.

“We are at a point where we need educators to know what students are and not fluently and make sure they understand how to support them individually,” he said, “as we have done with fundamental skills in literacy.”

To promote this change, the state legislature approved a law in 2023 that requires that all mathematics educators for the grades from fourth to eighth complete training on how to teach arithmetic skills. Last year, legislators also voted to require tutoring for students who get score below a certain threshold in state mathematics tests.

In the future, Hebert said that the State will focus on early intervention and training and support of additional teachers to ensure that students can give students the personal attention they need. This is what Hebert has to say about the future of mathematical education in Louisiana.

This interview has been edited and condensed by clarity.

How do you see an approach back to mathematical instruction in the classrooms?

In mathematics, it means understanding which children need support and also understand how to intervene and communicate that struggle to parents. In classrooms, it seems that teachers monitor students’ successes or struggles at the time.

We are doing many things well in Louisiana, and our Naep (national test) scores are evidence of that work. But building fundamental skills for students will continue to support that growth.

Why do students the mathematics scores tend to reduce after the fourth grade?

In primary, children are doing very specific mathematics. As they move to high school, things become much more abstract, so relevance is more difficult to see for children. We are working on fundamental learning as a way of addressing that.

Can you talk about the effort of “mathematical update” of the department that began a couple of years ago? Is it ongoing?

Now it is our comprehensive plan, which includes having high quality instruction and degree level provided by a high quality teacher as the expectation of all our students in Louisiana.

For that to happen, teachers must receive continuous professional learning and time so that students can support the students better, and we must recognize the role of family and caregivers in the success of students.

The State has also placed a great emphasis on tutoring in recent years. Is that part of the state mathematical plan?

Yes. There are tutoring initiatives for K-5 schools and for students of students in grades K-12. In K-5, students who identify (as they need additional support) through the evaluators should receive high dosage tutoring during the school day.

Students in degrees K-12 can also request the Steve Carter tutoring program. This year, that program expanded to include mathematics. Provides tutoring coupons of $ 1,500 to families so that they can buy literacy tutoring services and high quality mathematics.

There has been a lot of discussion about “new mathematics” in schools, which focuses on conceptual understanding and problem solving memory memorization. Does the department encourage schools to use this approach?

We often talk about “new mathematics” as mathematical people do in their heads. They are mental mathematics. We are only explicitly teaching our students to put their thoughts on paper so that they can develop this fluidity and understanding in mathematics. Actually, our department focuses on the alignment and coherence of the standards, the curriculum and the evaluations and how all that connects for children.

Our standards require children to develop skills and fluidity, create understanding and apply that ability and knowledge.

An example is an early primary student who learns that two plus three are five. They can be given a group of objects and tell the objects and then they can make a group of two and a group of three. When they separate into two groups, they still have five objects.

Finally, that becomes a tool in students’ rear pockets. If they do not have the objects in front of them and are fighting with something, they can draw an image of the objects, but that image is just a tool. It finally becomes automatic.

This is parallel to literacy, since it is similar to students who sound words. When the students find an unknown word, they know all the sounds that make the letters and sound it. The more we read that word, the more automatic the recognition of the word becomes.

A new state law requires that students in degrees K-3 take three arithmetic evaluations every year. Why is that important?

We talk about how teachers should know which children are fluid and which are not. Examiners are the tool that helps them do that. It gives teachers the knowledge of individual students and with what specific skills they need support.

Examiners identify students with early difficulties for teachers to intervene early.

Other recent state laws require arithmetic training for current teachers and applicants. What are some basic concepts of mathematics that each teacher needs to know?

Teachers must clearly understand how mathematics accumulates through and within their degree level. This understanding helps them think about how, if a student is not successful in something specific, what should they have known before that?

He is teaching teachers to look at students’ work and thinking about what work tells them about what students do and do not know. They can then take measures to support the success of the students.

Patrick Wall staff contributed to this report.