The Math Refugee Theory

Ugh... state-mandated testing.

In many ways, state-mandated testing can be the bane of a teacher's existence, but in other ways, the data can be used to shed light on issues within a school program. For a few years now, I have been looking at the data from our CAASPP test scores. CAASPP is the state-mandated testing that all juniors in California take. They are tested in Math and ELA (English Language Arts). Our school has performed well in the past compared to other "like" schools in our area and above the state average. But, we have always felt that our students should be doing better. I had this theory that I like to call "The Math Refugee Theory." The theory was that students often come to our school because they are failing to learn mathematics in the comprehensive high schools. These students are transferring in from other programs and testing with us, not really having been educated in our program, and then driving our scores down. So I, along with our math department head, painstakingly analyzed the heck out of our CAASPP data from 2017 to discover if this was true. Does it make a difference if a student attends 9th-11th grade with us versus having transferred to our school in 11th grade? We cross-referenced the CAASPP scores with enrollment information to discover the truth.

The results of the analysis confirmed my hypothesis. Of the students who transferred in from other programs in 11th grade and then tested with us, only 29% "met or exceeded standards." That number is pretty low when compared with the students who were with us since 9th grade, 45.5% of whom "met or exceeded standards." So, our conclusion is that the longer a student is in our program, the better they perform on state testing. The data supports the idea that our program is working. Of course, there is always room for improvement and that is our aim, but I want to focus for a minute on what we are doing right.

So, what are we doing right?

First, our class sizes are small. We have a 20 to 1 ratio of students to teacher at maximum, but often it is less. So, our students are getting a lot more personal attention. Unlike in traditional schools, if a student fails Math 1 (or even earns a D), we do not necessarily advance them to Math 2. That practice has never made much sense to me, but I see it all the time on student transcripts from other schools. That one size fits all, assembly line educational model does not work for everyone. In fact, the system that advances a student to the next level of math before they have actually learned the content from a foundational class is, in my opinion, what has created the Math Refugee crisis. For example, they get a D- in Math 1 their freshman year at one of the comprehensive high schools, they are then enrolled in Math 2 never really having learned the content from Math 1 and surprisingly (she says in a sarcastic tone) they are totally floundering in Math 2. That is usually the point when parents will pull them from the other school and get them into our program. These are the "Math Refugees," they come to us mathematically wounded, lacking math skills and confidence, and in some cases, basic number sense. We totally harbor Math Refugees, and we help them to be successful. We have a course called "Math Readiness" for those students lacking basic number sense, we have small class sizes, and we offer free one-on-one or small group tutoring.

Also, and I think this is one of the most important pieces, our teachers develop personal relationships with our students. When I was a teacher at a big traditional high school, I had an insane number of students. At one point, I had 200 students. I honestly couldn't even remember all of their names let alone develop meaningful relationships with all of them. Our Facilitators have 30 or fewer students (this year I only have 12) on their caseload. That means that I am the "head coach" of the educational team for those 12 students. I have personal relationships with them. They know that I care about them, that I am going to hold them accountable, check up on them, communicate with their classroom teachers, work with their parents, and that I am going to do everything I can to ensure their success.

The last piece of this success puzzle is the parents. At our school, parental involvement is compulsory. It is part of our model that parents be involved. Parents are required to attend Facilitator Meetings at least every 20 school days. They are expected to be involved and hold their child accountable on a daily basis. I think that oftentimes parents of high schoolers feel like they can't help their child, or that they are just kind of done once their kid gets to high school. However, that is absolutely not true. If the parents are fulfilling their role as "assistant coach" on the educational team, then the student has a much greater chance to be successful, not just in math, but across the board. The parent needs to hold their child accountable. They need to trust their child to do the work and put in the time that it takes to be successful in school, but then they need to verify that the work has been done.

So, bring on the refugees. We can help them. We want to help them. Yeah, high CAASPP scores are nice, but they are not everything. We care much more about healing the mathematically wounded and giving them the confidence and support to be successful.