At least seven states have recently passed legislation targeting math instruction鈥攍aws that require schools to identify and support struggling students and mandate that teachers receive additional training.
The flurry of state action comes after several years of legislative focus on one of the other three Rs: early reading instruction. Laws in 32 states and the District of Columbia have required that states recommend evidence-based reading curricula, provide training for teachers in best practices, and create plans to support struggling readers.
The new math laws are pulling on the same levers.
Such a targeted focus on math improvement has been long overdue, said Karen Anderson, the director of the newly created Office of Mathematics Improvement at the Alabama State Department of Education. The state legislature passed a law last year that requires screening K-5 students for math difficulties and providing math coaches to elementary schools.
Alabama has expended significant effort to improve students鈥� reading skills over the past few years, Anderson said. 鈥淢ath has just not received the same amount of attention,鈥� she said.
In part, Anderson thinks, this has to do with a cultural assumption in the United States that some students just aren鈥檛 鈥渕ath people.鈥�
鈥淚f I told you I only knew half my letters and couldn鈥檛 read, that would be appalling,鈥� she said. But it鈥檚 common for parents to say that their families are just bad at math, she added. Anderson hopes that the changes specified in the new law can challenge that kind of acceptance.
The new laws recognize that many students may need extra help in the subject, and call on schools to provide that support, said Sarah Powell, an associate professor in the department of special education at The University of Texas at Austin who studies math instruction.
The notion of different stages of intervention depending on student need鈥攕ometimes called 鈥渕ultitiered systems of support"鈥攊s often considered the provenance of special education, not a practice that can help in general education, too, she added.
鈥淔or a very long time, MTSS, it was like, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 a special education thing.鈥� And I think this is realizing 鈥� there鈥檚 a lot of kids who are struggling with math,鈥� Powell said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e looking at their test scores and saying, 鈥楾his is a majority of kids who are in our schools.鈥欌��
Student need has deepened since the pandemic. Math scores fell across the board on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, and the proportion of lowest-achieving students grew.
Still, educators and researchers alike warn that passing these laws is just the first step. Questions of implementation, from overarching decisions about how to define 鈥渆vidence-based鈥� instruction to the nitty-gritty work of selecting diagnostic tools, will determine whether these new mandates actually improve student outcomes. (Education Week documented the challenges of putting the reading laws into practice in a special reporting project.)
Carrie DeNote, an elementary math coach in Brooksville, Fla., and the president of the Florida Council of Teachers of Mathematics, said she still has a lot of questions about the law passed this year in her state.
Florida鈥檚 law requires schools to provide support for students in grades K-4 who show a 鈥渟ubstantial deficiency in mathematics or dyscalculia.鈥� The state鈥檚 department of education recently released guidance for identifying these deficiencies.
鈥淪ometimes legislation comes out, and they don鈥檛 really have all of the details worked out,鈥� DeNote said.
How to define 鈥榚vidence-based鈥� instruction
Several of the new laws say that instruction should be based on evidence. Colorado requires training for teachers on 鈥渆vidence-informed practices.鈥� Alabama mandates 鈥渆vidence-based鈥� teaching methods and curricula. Florida calls for 鈥渆vidence-based鈥� interventions.
鈥淎 big question is always, 鈥榃hat is their definition of evidence?鈥欌�� said Powell.
鈥淥ften it鈥檚 a very small group of people, sometimes one person, who is making decisions for thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of kids and their teachers, and it kind of just depends on the background of that person,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think states are struggling with that.鈥�
This focus on 鈥渆vidence-based鈥� practice is present in reading instruction, too, and debate over what that means has demonstrated how difficult it can be to pin down a definition of the term.
In reading laws, many states outline the five components of reading listed in the National 69传媒 Panel鈥檚 2000 report, mandating instruction in each. But an analysis of the laws鈥� content released in July noted that most don鈥檛 highlight newer findings published over the two decades since the panel鈥檚 report was issued. Some laws invoke the phrase the 鈥渟cience of reading,鈥� but define it differently.
Questions about what kind of evidence to prioritize, and how to define evidence-based instruction, will likely surface in math, too.
Over the years, one of the biggest sticking points in conversations about early math instruction has been about how much emphasis to place on fact fluency vs. conceptual understanding. Research shows that developing these skills and knowledge is an iterative process鈥攕tudents do need to be able to quickly recall their times tables, for example, but understanding why numbers make the products that they do helps students anchor the facts to broader mathematical knowledge.
Thoma Thacker, a math instructional facilitator in Little Rock, Ark., and a vice president of the Arkansas Council of Teachers of Mathematics, said she鈥檚 鈥渇earful鈥� that districts will interpret the state鈥檚 new law to mean a focus on rote memorization鈥攅ven though young students also need to be taught strategies for solving word problems and have opportunities to create visual representations of math ideas.
Defining what 鈥渆vidence-based鈥� means can seem like a nebulous task, but it鈥檚 a key piece of the implementation process, influencing everything from what screening tools states decide to use to which interventions they choose to how teachers are trained.
There are intervention approaches that research studies have shown can help struggling students, said Powell, referencing developed by the Institute of Education Sciences鈥� What Works Clearinghouse, part of the U.S. Department of Education.
But while there may be proven practices, there aren鈥檛 as many off-the-shelf intervention programs in math as there are in other subjects鈥攅specially reading, said DeNote, the Florida math coach.
鈥淚t is important for us to figure out what those interventions are going to look like鈥攑ast a workbook page,鈥� DeNote said.
In Alabama, the state department of education has struggled to find tools to meet some of the law鈥檚 requirements, Anderson said.
鈥淚 think sometimes, when you have groundbreaking legislation, it really shines a light on needs that have always been there but heretofore have not been fulfilled,鈥� she said.
Focusing on teacher training
Administering all of these assessments and interventions requires trained educators鈥攖eachers, math interventionists, and specialists.
Some laws require hiring new staff, such as Alabama鈥檚, which allocates one to two math coaches for every K-5 public school. Others, including Colorado, Louisiana, and West Virginia, focus on additional training for teachers.
Hiring new personnel and training in-service educators requires funding, said Powell. 鈥淭hat stuff is not cheap, and it鈥檚 also not a one-time thing.鈥�
Then there鈥檚 the problem of finding appropriate professional development. In reading, many states have turned to Language Essentials for Teachers of 69传媒 and Spelling, or LETRS, a well-known early reading training. Others, like Texas and Tennessee, created their own professional learning courses, and still others have provided a menu of options for districts to choose from.
With math, 鈥渢here鈥檚 not as much out there,鈥� Powell said. She鈥檚 currently working with Kansas to create their own training for math professional learning.
Alabama is also providing its math training in house, offering professional development for coaches through the state education department鈥檚 Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative.
As more teachers receive training, and more students are screened in math, DeNote thinks that these changes could prompt a larger-scale reevaluation of how math is taught. If Florida鈥檚 new policies identify many students who need extra support, it could indicate that curriculum and teaching need to change, she said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a large volume of students that need math intervention,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I think, also, we need a closer look at how we鈥檙e working [on] our tier 1 instruction.鈥�
