Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Numeracy

Anyone that knows me knows that I struggled in virtually every single math class I have ever taken in both public and post-secondary schools. As a matter a fact, its probably the reason why I scored so poorly on my GRE and has put a major pause on my attempt to obtain a PhD, but I digress. So its no wonder why I am both passionate and dedicated to not only reform traditional schooling but in particular math education in this country. Its probably safe to say that I am not alone in my disdain for solving binomials or finding the area of a triangle, but its also frustrating as a grown man that many of the math skills that I use and have used into adulthood have absolutely nothing with what I was taught in school. In this effort this post is dedicated to not focusing on problems or even revisiting national debates on whether Algebra I is the "gold standard" for determining whether or not students can successfully matriculate onto post secondary studies, as I have mentioned in my previous post, but rather on a declaration promoting our schools focus on promoting a culture of numeracy. We defined numeracy as "the capacity to bridge the gap between ‘mathematics’ and ‘the real world’, to use in-school mathematics out-of-school” and consider people to be more or less numerate based on “how well they choose and use the mathematical skills they have in the service of things other than mathematics” (Willis 1998, p.37) To this end, we developed a set of seven Numeracy Principles that schools and educators can begin to adopt so that we create more informed and empowered young people in this world and bring an end to useless content that many of us will never use on a day-to-day basis: 

     

• Numeracy is everybody’s business and pervades a school’s culture.
• All students can and must develop numeracy skills and dispositions and become powerfully numerate.
• Numeracy cannot be developed solely by learning mathematical procedures; these must be embedded in guided, open quests, explorations, and investigations.
• Numeracy connotes a familiarity and confidence with notions of change, chance, quantity, shape, and dimension.
• Real-world relevance and connections—both cross-discipline and within mathematics— are the cornerstones to developing numeracy skills.
• Numeracy requires effective communication, both written and oral.                                         
• Numeracy, along with literacy, is a co-equal building block of human intellectual prowess.

Just as literacy is the foundation in which all other reading and writing skills will begin to flourish and grow, we believe that numeracy provides the very foundation in which all other math constructs can rest upon and create a more informed and empowered youth. As other organizations such as the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation, are working towards a more just and equitable platform in which math instruction can take place: the question ultimately becomes: How do we get our kids to think of themselves as mathematicians and simply not doing, math like a hopeless drone. 

Want to Solve Education? Partner Passion and Students in Communities!

The work that we did at University Prep High School was not only incredibly powerful because we accomplished our goals of graduating over ninety percent of our students and over ninety percent of those students matriculated onto college or post-secondary education (based on the Big Picture Learning Model) but powerful because of the way that we connected students into the community to design and to take control of their learning. Each one of my seventeen students (don't let the small size fool you this was the hardest work I've ever done in my life)  who were a part of my advisory, a  who stayed with me for all four years so we could bond and connect as a family, were required as part of their learning plan to identify their interests or passions and then be connected with a mentor in the community in which they would learn from. Additionally, students would develop a value-added project that would better help the organization or business operate: Learning Through Internship. One of my students, La-Sainte had a sincere and genuine interest in early childhood education. She completed a shadow day at a local day care and then after a brief meeting with her and her mentor she officially began her internship the following week near a gritty neighborhood on Detroit's westside.  Because our school required internships and projects rooted in the community La-Sainte did not have to attend "school" on Tuesdays and Thursdays which freed her and other students to do real learning based on specific interests. One of the first things we require students to do is to complete an internship anthropology which works as a way for students to really look and observe the way in which a specific organization operates. Questions such as "what kinds of people work here? is there a diverse population? is the work space clean? are people treated with respect? why or why not?" help to improve students writing skills as well as to begin to develop an awareness about work spaces and students role within them.

More importantly, these and other questions help students to begin to identify specific gaps within the organization and to think about what projects they can work on. For La-Sainte, she really became interested in the role of play in childhood development and the degree and quality to which it was and was not occurring at her internship. So after generating her essential questions, drafting and writing a research paper and project proposal, and building on her previous projects on DNA and human and brain development, she decided that as part of her Senior Project she would organized and facilitate what would later be called a Family Fun Day in which children, parents, family and friends would be welcomed to visit the day care for a day filled with fun activities all aimed at developing healthy and happy children. La-Sainte raised nearly $1,200 dollars for the event and had organized the facility to accommodate activities ranging from kids cartoon characters to local karate mentors providing free instruction to a mini-train complete with tracks in the parking lot and plenty of food and beverages to boot. La-Sainte was required to design and implement surveys to determine the effectiveness of her work in this area as well as well as draft a reflection paper and a rubric in which she would give herself a grade on the project. Its through this work with communities and mentors and organizations in which students can begin to see themselves as not only as agents of change but also realize that each and everyone has power to transform. For me, if we are to truly change education for all people not just black and hispanic folk but for all races and countries, we must began to build meaningful and lasting partnerships with communities that place youth in the position of designers and specialists in solving and identifying areas of needs. If you are interested in designing similar learning experiences for your students, please check out the following resources or feel free to drop me a line for ways in which you might want to develop aspects of this work in your own communities:

www.bigpicturelearning.org
www.hightechhigh.org
http://schoolsweneed.wikispaces.com/Real+World+Learning

Lessons From a Freedom Fighter: In Honor of Nelson

Yesterday marked the death of an amazing human being and educator, yes, educator, prophet and beautiful soul, Nelson Mandela. We mark the end of his life on earth but the life he lived, people he touched, and nation and world that he changed will forever live on in our conversations and interactions that we have with each other. Perhaps, whats most remarkable about Mandela  was his dedication to his own personal development through education. "Education is the most powerful weapon to which you can change the world," Nelson stated and for over three decades imprisoned he spent he spent his time reading and learning about himself and his adversaries. He went onto say that "Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do." Its a love for what you do and seeing that you do have the power to change and overcome. 

Teach Less, Learn More: International Perspective on Teaching and Learning

Recent coverage on PISA scores has led many to draw attention to Singapore's most recent test data, ranking this small Asian country at the very top of international educational systems. I am always leery of making too big a deal of these scores because comparing countries is a bit like comparing night and day; there are just too many other factors such as history, demographics, economies, politics and geography that must be considered when exploring educational outcomes. What I feel like we miss is the simple fact that rather than discourage exploration and innovation, Singapore actually encourages this way of thinking. Instead of rote memorization and the typical stand and deliver method that groups like KIPP and other outdated systems of education tend to promote, the 522 school districts in Singapore believe that learning in depth is the reason for their success, not a hindrance to. In our test-driven American educational system, we tend to believe that this is exactly what contributes to success when in reality its quite the opposite. In fact Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsein Loong, in advocating for more in-depth learning launched a country wide campaign entitled, "Teach Less, Learn More" in a response to the narrowing of curriculum and teachers only focusing on skills out of concept. 

So perhaps, instead of us trying to copy exactly what another country is doing, lets get to the good work of allowing students to explore concepts, provide ample opportunities for student transfer of knowledge and skills, and plenty of real-world application. These are the cornerstones of excelling not only on standardized test scores such as PISA but in life in general.