STAAR results released this week revealed a dramatically grim drop in math scores across Texas — about 800,000 more students are now below grade level in the subject.
That’s more than five times the enrollment of Dallas ISD.
But that wasn’t necessarily surprising to many educators or academic experts who saw firsthand how challenging it was to teach math during the pandemic.
Teachers typically rely on small group instruction or worksheets to teach math skills to students. Both options were limited with millions learning from home or separated from peers while on campus.
Virtual learning also made it more difficult for math teachers to diagnose their students’ understanding of math, which they could traditionally analyze by checking over the work kids show on the page. Tactile items kept in classrooms — like blocks — are also helpful in explaining concepts, but kids didn’t always have access because of COVID-19.
When kids are in the classroom and there’s nothing else to do, it’s easier for them to focus on “these kind of boring assignments,” said Candace Walkington, an associate professor of math education at Southern Methodist University.
“But once there’s this whole world around them of other things like there is with virtual learning, it becomes so much harder to engage them,” Walkington said. “That really points to a problem with mathematics instruction itself and the way we’re teaching it, not with the kids and not with the teachers.”
Recent results from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, exam detailed the enormous challenge educators face. The percentage of Texas students failing their math tests increased by 16 points from the last year exams were administered, in 2019. Now educators will be tasked with catching up millions of students.
Experts like Walkington hope it forces a systemwide reflection over how math education should change to better serve students.
Even before the pandemic, many Texas students struggled in math. Roughly 44% of fourth graders and 30% of eighth graders scored at or above proficient on the math NAEP — often referred to as the Nation’s Report Card — in 2019.
North Texas learning loss
All Dallas County school districts saw their math test failure rates increase across elementary and middle school grades.
In DISD, the failure rate was nearly 40% or higher in most of these grades. More than half of DeSoto’s elementary or middle schoolers failed the test in third through eighth grade. The percentage of students failing math tests more than doubled — and in some cases tripled — for Lancaster elementary and middle schoolers.
Seventh graders particularly struggled, showing the sharpest decline. Less than 40% of seventh graders in Dallas, Duncanville, DeSoto, Lancaster, Cedar Hill, Garland, Richardson and Carrollton-Farmers Branch schools passed the test.
A student passes the STAAR test by meeting state standards or approaching them. Any student who fails a test is deemed unlikely to succeed in the next grade level without significant and ongoing intervention, meaning schools will have to invest significant resources in catching this group up next year.
How can educators accelerate learning?
Texas schools have not been historically successful at catching up kids who fall behind in class.
A pre-pandemic study showed that across all grades levels and subjects, only 4% of students below grade level catch up in two years’ time, Education Commissioner Mike Morath said.
“It’s clear that the way that schools work will have to change in order for us to improve our rates and learning acceleration for kids,” Morath said when releasing the STAAR results Monday.
Systemic changes to the way educators teach math is necessary, said Annie Wilhelm, another SMU associate professor of math education. (SMU supports the Education Lab at The Dallas Morning News.)
“Instead of just saying how can we get back to normal … maybe we should rethink why we have to practice everyday to retain things,” she said. “If we learn things in a different way, perhaps we don’t need the routine practice quite as much.”
Prioritizing what students learn is key in this reevaluation, she said. Educators should focus on the lessons that students must understand to be successful in their next grade level and future careers so they can “dig deep” rather than cover everything superficially.
Wilhelm used calculating area as an example. Teachers currently instruct students on the formula for area and how to calculate it. Students devote time to practicing the formula with different numbers until they can successfully calculate area in a variety of scenarios.
Instead, educators could be teaching students critical thinking skills so they know when to calculate area and how to look up the formula when necessary, Wilhelm suggested, noting that few people actually need to memorize the equation.
Shifting the way lessons like this one are taught would allow teachers to spend more time on fewer concepts, giving students a greater depth of understanding.
But teachers should not be deciding what to focus time on individually, she stressed. Campus and district leaders must play a role in prioritizing so every student moves on to the next grade with a common grasp of important concepts.
Dallas ISD leaders, for example, are emphasizing acceleration by breaking down which math concepts are essential in each grade level and then developing strategies around those ideas.
Academics officer Shannon Trejo said teachers aren’t expected to “reteach” the previous grade level to help with learning gaps.
“If you’re in third grade, we don’t want to do second grade,” she said. Instead, they want to help teachers focus on sussing out what second-grade skills the students didn’t get to master and figuring out how to build that learning into instruction.
Professional development
More widespread professional development could help implement the systemwide changes, experts suggested.
Tia Madkins, a University of Texas professor who focuses on equity issues, said teachers need better support on how to teach mathematics in more innovative and accessible ways.
“There’s a tendency to want to drill and kill,” she said. “We don’t want it to become this mountain of worksheets that kids are doing.”
The state could play a role in training educators through math academies, akin to the reading academy effort that school districts across the state are using to teach their instructors about the science of reading.
While reading academies are mandated by the state, math academies are limited in availability. They are optional and admission is prioritized for teachers serving campuses with higher concentrations of students from poor families.
No systemwide professional development scheme is in place to prepare teachers to address pandemic-caused learning loss. However, the Texas Education Agency will offer yearlong fellowships for teachers that include more intensive training.
Morath encouraged teachers to enroll in the academies and fellowships and families to lean on state-provided resources that are intended to give students extra opportunities to practice math outside the classroom including free online programs.
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The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from The Beck Group, Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, The Meadows Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University and Todd A. Williams Family Foundation. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
