Investing in Deeper Relationships with our Partner Schools
We focused this past year on intentional engagement with our partner elementary schools. That resulted in schools establishing specific math goals for students—from every fourth-grader in a class improving in multiplication to setting time to play more math games in class.
More than half of our 18 schools took part in launch sessions in this first year of the new partnership model. What’s more, we saw promising signs that children in those schools are increasing their skills and confidence in math.
In year-end surveys, teachers at several Explorations in Math partner schools reported an increase in overall student math confidence. Among those showing the greatest increases were schools in the south end of the Seattle School District:
• John Muir Elementary—10 percent increase.
• Van Asselt Elementary—16 percent increase.
• Hawthorne Elementary—33 percent increase, with 75 percent of teachers reporting student confidence moved from “not confident” to “somewhat confident.”
Surella Scott, a classroom and Explorations in Math club teacher at John Muir Elementary in South Seattle, sees the additional skill practice kids get in math clubs providing them with the “think time” to process what they are learning in class.
“I have seen students practice something in math club and when they are using the skill in class they are just beaming because they know they have something valuable to contribute,” Scott said. “We all know that is a great confidence builder.”
For Stephanie Cherrington, Executive Director of Explorations in Math, investing in deeper relationships with partners is beginning to pay off. “Beyond doing more math, we are working with our partner schools to do more math with a purpose,” she said. “That purpose is to build math culture by transforming beliefs, improving attitudes, and encouraging behaviors in support of math.”
