Early math is fraught with confusing questions: Do kids really need to know all those multiplication tables? Which should come first, math concepts or procedures? Why don’t schools pay as much attention to math disability as they do to dyslexia? And how can parents know how to help when materials and methods have changed since they were young? Join us as both math practitioners and researchers clear the path—and identify strategies that give all students a solid foundation in math.
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Agenda
2:00pm ET
Welcome and Introduction
We’ll review key takeaways from recent reporting on the roots of strong early math instruction, including fluency, word problems, parent engagement, and how to help struggling students—all with an eye to promoting strong teaching.
Stephen Sawchuk is an assistant managing editor for Education Week, leading coverage of teaching, learning, and curriculum.
2:10pm ET
Interactive Session: Setting the Stage
In this interactive session, we’ll introduce some key ideas from the report and assess your knowledge, sharing some factoids from our recent surveys and correcting some of the misperceptions about early math development.
Stephen Sawchuk is an assistant managing editor for Education Week, leading coverage of teaching, learning, and curriculum.
2:20pm ET
Industry Perspective: Improving Math Learning Outcomes: What Really Works
Content provided by SpringMath by Sourcewell
Join Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden as she shares what really works in driving math mastery and learning outcomes based on over 20 years of research. Spoiler alert: the answer is rooted in research and data.
Join Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden as she shares what really works in driving math mastery and learning outcomes based on over 20 years of research. Spoiler alert: the answer is rooted in research and data.
Dr. Amanda VanDerHeyden
Policy Advisor and Thought Leader
2:30pm ET
Panel Discussion: Tackling Fact Fluency and Early Word Problems
All students need to develop fluency in their multiplication and addition facts fluently and learn how to negotiate their very first word problems. Both are on-ramps to the mix of conceptual and procedural knowledge that make up the elementary math classroom. Hear from research experts and practitioners on how they structure these critical components.
Sarah Schwartz is a reporter for Education Week who covers curriculum and instruction.
Brian Bushart
4th Grade Teacher ,
West Irondequoit Schools, NY
Brian’s passion is fostering teachers’ and students’ identities as sense makers. Since he began his education career in 2001, Brian has served as a classroom teacher across the elementary grades, a digital curriculum designer at McGraw-Hill Education, a curriculum consultant at Amplify Education, and a curriculum coordinator for a large school district in Texas. Brian is currently wrapping up his first year back in his very own classroom as a 4th grade teacher in New York.
Nicole McNeil
Professor of Psychology and ACE College Professor ,
University of Notre Dame
Nicole McNeil directs the Cognition Learning and Development (CLAD) Lab and is a fellow of the Institute for Educational Initiatives at Notre Dame. She is a member of the South Bend Community School Corporation’s (SBCSC) Restorative Justice in Education Advisory Council, a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, and an Associate Editor for the journal Cognitive Science. McNeil is well-published and has received several awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and the Boyd McCandless Award. McNeil is an active member on the steering committee for TutorND, a tutor formation program designed to increase children’s access to high-impact, evidence-based tutoring in reading and math.
3:15pm ET
Industry Perspective: Two Big Ideas for Teaching Math in the Elementary Grades
Content provided by Voyager Sopris
The Institute for Education Science’s recently updated Guide, Assisting Students Struggling in Mathematics: Interventions in the Elementary Grades, offers a refreshing and contemporary look at how we can assist struggling students. While all of the Guide’s recommendations are based on significant empirical support, two are particularly important. First, classroom talk is essential to today’s classroom, but what is said needs to be much more than “turn taking.” It’s critical for students who struggle to hear and then use in their own words the language of mathematics. How we describe mathematical ideas matters and makes the difference in terms of learning. Second, carefully chosen manipulatives and representations are critical to make meaning of today’s mathematics. They also enhance the first big idea. We’ll explore these changes and what they mean for instruction.
The Institute for Education Science’s recently updated Guide, Assisting Students Struggling in Mathematics: Interventions in the Elementary Grades, offers a refreshing and contemporary look at how we can assist struggling students. While all of the Guide’s recommendations are based on significant empirical support, two are particularly important. First, classroom talk is essential to today’s classroom, but what is said needs to be much more than “turn taking.” It’s critical for students who struggle to hear and then use in their own words the language of mathematics. How we describe mathematical ideas matters and makes the difference in terms of learning. Second, carefully chosen manipulatives and representations are critical to make meaning of today’s mathematics. They also enhance the first big idea. We’ll explore these changes and what they mean for instruction.
Dr. John Woodward
Author and Speaker
Dr. John Woodward is a nationally recognized mathematics author, writer, and speaker. He is the past dean of the School of Education and professor emeritus at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, WA.
3:25pm ET
Panel Discussion: A Math Learning Disorder and Its Connections
Find out how math disability—dyscalculia—manifests in students—and why some teaching strategies that work for these students parallel and draw on interventions for students with reading disorders.
Sarah D. Sparks covers education research, data, and the science of learning for Education Week.
Lynn Fuchs
Research Professor,
Vanderbilt University
Lynn Fuchs is Research Professor at Vanderbilt University. She has conducted programmatic research on assessment methods for enhancing instructional planning, on instructional methods for improving mathematics and reading outcomes for students with learning disabilities, and on the cognitive and linguistic student characteristics associated with mathematics development and responsiveness to intervention. Dr. Fuchs has published more than 350 empirical studies in peer-review journals. She sits on the editorial boards of 10 journals including the Journal of Educational Psychology, Scientific Studies of Reading, Reading Research Quarterly, Elementary School Journal, Journal of Learning Disabilities, and Exceptional Children.
Margaret Howells
Teacher Specialist in Dyscalculia
Margaret Howells is the Director of Edge Math and a fourth grade classroom teacher at Wheeling Country Day School, located in Wheeling, West Virginia. She has worked extensively with struggling math students in the regular classroom and in after school tutoring. She has focused her efforts on understanding dyscalculia and creating curricula to meet the needs of these struggling learners. The work she has done face-to-face with students is now being turned into a software model. Margie has a love of all things math and science and she was the West Virginia awardee for the 2016 Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST). She is a graduate of West Liberty University and has over 30 years experience in the field of education.
3:55pm ET
Industry Perspective: The Science of Deeper Learning: Empowering All Students
Content provided by ST Math
How do we teach math? It's a good question, but to answer it we should ask ourselves something different: How do we learn math? Discover how science can enable students to learn math in a new way. Explore scientific approaches to how the brain learns, and how actively engaging all students empowers them to creatively and collaboratively problem solve, preparing them for the 21st century.
How do we teach math? It's a good question, but to answer it we should ask ourselves something different: How do we learn math? Discover how science can enable students to learn math in a new way. Explore scientific approaches to how the brain learns, and how actively engaging all students empowers them to creatively and collaboratively problem solve, preparing them for the 21st century.
Nigel Nisbet
Vice President of Content Creation,
MIND Education
Armed with a mathematics degree and early success as a rock musician, Nigel Nisbet moved to the U.S. to teach mathematics, AP Physics, and AP Computer Science at Van Nuys Senior High, where he was a pioneer of integrating technology into the classroom. After a spell in district mathematics leadership at the Los Angeles Unified School District, Nigel joined the nonprofit MIND Education team in the spring of 2010, giving a TEDx talk on “The Geometry of Chocolate” in 2012, and as the Vice President of Content Creation has written and talked extensively about his and MIND’s passion for teaching mathematics the way the brain learns.
4:05pm ET
Interactive Session: The Parent Factor
Most parents know to read to their kids. But how can parents—even those nervous about their own math abilities—play a core role in their children’s math development? In this interactive session, we’ll brainstorm key problems and new solutions for districts.
4:15pm ET
Closing Thoughts
Hear the big takeaways from the Forum.
Stephen Sawchuk is an assistant managing editor for Education Week, leading coverage of teaching, learning, and curriculum.
