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Uri Treisman, PhDCharles A. Dana Center The University of Texas at Austin

Education Commission of the StatesJuly 2009

Academic Youth Development

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High rates of failure in Algebra I.

What is the Problem?

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Many students have difficulty in school not because they are incapable of performing successfully but because they are incapable of believing that they can perform successfully.

BUT, efforts that attempt to enhance academic performance in the absence of efforts to increase content knowledge are doomed to failure.

Non-Cognitive Factors

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In the National Math Panel survey, 62% of teachers rated working with unmotivated students as the single most challenging aspect of teaching Algebra I successfully. (National Math Panel, 2008)

Non-Cognitive Factors

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Increase students’ commitment to learning and their productive persistence in the face of academic struggle

Our Goals

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Meld recent advances in social and psychological theories with deep practitioner wisdom to build a new generation of student support structures.

Goals

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Building on research and practice

• Effective effort: Improving and getting better at something requires the right kind of effort.

• Attribution: Success is attributed to task-specific causes (e.g. effort), not to global causes (e.g. luck or native intelligence).

• Malleable intelligence: Intelligence is something that can be influenced and shaped through actions and beliefs.

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Building on research and practice

Albert Bandura Social Cognitive Theory

Individuals function/learn through reciprocal influences

BEHAVIOR

ENVIRONMENTAL factors

PERSONAL factors

(cognitive, affective, and biological events)

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Building on research and practice

Productive Persistence

Self Efficacy: beliefs about capabilitiesSelf regulation: adapting, reflecting, monitoring

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What is Mathematical Proficiency?

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Strands of Mathematical Proficiency

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Sources of Students’ Self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997)

• Mastery Experiences: interpreting capabilities based on previous personal experiences

• Vicarious Experiences: role models, peers

• Social Persuasions: peer, parents, teachers

• Emotional States: arousal, anxiety, mood, fatigue

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Building on research and practice

• Asset-based approaches

• Strategies: Selection-Optimization-Compensation

• Goal Setting

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Wisdom of Practice

• Emerging Scholars Program (Treisman, 1992)

• AVID (Mary Catherine Swanson)

• Step-Up to High School (Chicago Public Schools)

• The Algebra Project (Bob Moses)

• Puente Project

Building on research and practice

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Allows students to practice new ways of learning in challenging academic environments.

Academic proficiency cannot be developed in the absence of academic content.

Critical role of content

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Senseof

Belonging

There is good news…

Modest interventions are

making a difference.

Students’ beliefs matter.

Teachers’ beliefs and actions matter.

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• Don’t have to choose between being cool and being smart

• Create a learning community in which students and teachers work together to increase everyone’s knowledge

• Feel comfortable enough to take risks and participate in class

• Engage in meaningful discussions about mathematical content with the teacher and their fellow students

• Understand that learning math takes effort and persistence

Imagine a math classroom in which all students…

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Academic Youth Development Academic Youth DevelopmentImproving Achievement by Shaping the Culture of Algebra Classrooms

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Academic Youth Development

Supports the successful transition of students into High School & Algebra I

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Model of the program

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• Student participants: 8th graders rising to 9th grade Algebra I — students who are “roughly at grade level”

• Teachers who will be teaching Alg I in the fall

• Summer: 14 days, 4 hours per day, 2 AYD teachers with up to 30 students

• Fall: 5 students per class scheduled into Alg I courses in AYD teacher’s classes (this will mean hand-scheduling)

• Academic year: 4-6 “gatherings” per year with students and teachers

• All resources for AYD program online through Agile Mind

• Districts agree to share data and learnings with the Dana Center AYD researchers and evaluators

AYD key program design elements

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• Algebra is a gatekeeper—50% of all ninth-grade students fail Algebra I.

• Increased college and workforce expectations. • Increased high school graduation

requirements.• Inadequate preparation and limited problem-

solving skills.• Crucial transition between middle school math

and Algebra I.

Why focus on the transition to Algebra I?

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What is Academic Youth Development?

AYD helps students develop

• academic identities as learners who recognize, value, and seek out high-quality education.

• skills to help create and contribute to a learning community.

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The Academic Youth Development Initiative . . .

• Is

• A set of experiences designed to influence student beliefs, attitudes and behaviors about learning.

• An academic development program for “regular students” to help ensure they get started in high school on the right track.

• An intervention designed to create and support a classroom culture of respectful engagement.

• A transitional program to foster success in high school and beyond.

• Is not

• Student remediation of grade 8 math

• Credit recovery

• Pre-teaching of Algebra I

• A summer math class

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Goals of the AYD Initiative

Three primary goals:

• Improve student performance in Algebra I and all high school mathematics courses.

• Build a classroom culture focused on respectful engagement in academics.

• Increase the capacity for teaching to rigorous mathematics standards.

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AYD shapes and supports a culture in which . . .

• Engagement, participation, positive motivation, and risk-taking are developed and embraced.

• Students don’t have to choose between being smart or being cool.

• Effort and persistence are recognized and valued.

• Mutual accountability is fostered and expected.

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Two areas of focus

1.Underlying issues about controllable factors related to student learning and achievement.

2.Critical problem-solving skills.

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• Getting smarter: growing your brain through hard work and effort.

• Learning to learn and what learning feels like.

• Learning with peers: the importance of good communication.

• Making attributions: what do you have control over in learning?

• Applying “learning about learning” strategies in problem-solving situations.

AYD online curriculum topics

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It’s Not Just Math

“Grow” Your Brain and Get Smarter

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It’s Not Just Math

Teamwork and Communication Skills

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It’s Not Just Math

Online Tools at Home and School

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It’s Not Just Math

Meeting Friends and Teachers

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What Math?

Mathematics and Forensic Science

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What Math?

Using Tables, Graphs and Equations

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What Math?

Measurement and Data Collection

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What Math?

Solving Real World Problems

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1. An exciting new program for incoming Algebra I students

2. A jump start on next year--for students and their Algebra teachers

3. A way for students to meet new friends and their Algebra teacher

4. An opportunity for students to learn strategies for success in all of their classes

Academic Youth Development

is for Students

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“It’s fun and you’ll learn a lot. You don’t just do math here, but learn how

to work as a community.”--Academic Youth

Development Student

California

What Students are Saying…

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Students surveyed and/or interviewed reported these key ideas. . .

• higher self-confidence and a higher level of support in mathematics by their peers and teachers;

• higher motivation and persistence--that is, the students were more likely not to give up when frustrated or stuck or when working on particularly challenging math problems;

• Increased use of metacognitive learning strategies--for example, purposeful selection of approaches when engaged in problem solving; and

• a greater understanding of theories of intelligence--that is, understanding that with hard work and effort, they could increase their intelligence and their capacity for academic success.

Findings from the Summer 2008 Bridge Component

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Academic Youth Development

AYD focuses on the beliefs, attitudes, and behavior of a cadre of emerging student ‘allies’ algebra teachers can rely on to

•model effective engagement and academic success.

•help support and shape the Algebra I classroom culture for learning mathematics.

•build a strong relationship between teachers and students.

is for Teachers and Leaders

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“Seeing students motivated and working together and hard is energizing me for next year. Students do work well in groups and help each other out..”

--Academic Youth

Development

Teacher

California

What Teachers are Saying…

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In interviews, teachers reported an emerging classroom culture. . .

• students taking more responsibility for their role in creating and sustaining a positive academic learning environment;

• better student-to-student communication--for example, sharing, talking through ideas, solving problems together;

• higher levels of students engagement--for example, almost all students, even those who previously were disengaged in school, participated more in class;

• increased willingness of students to work with one another; and

• increased willingness of students to encourage and support one another in their learning.

Findings from the Summer 2008 Bridge Component

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•Teachers who will be teaching Algebra I in the fall

•Students will be scheduled, at least 5 per class, into their Algebra I classes

•Two teachers per cohort of 30 students

•Teachers will attend a two-day professional development session in the Spring 2009

•Teachers will teach the 14-day summer bridge class

•Teachers and leaders will facilitate up to six academic year gatherings during the 2009-2010 school year.

Who can be an Academic Youth Development Teacher?

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Who can be an AYD student?

• Student has regular attendance in middle school.

• Student is at or near grade level in mathematics performance.

• Student is enrolled in Algebra I for the 2009—2010 academic year.

• Student has clear potential to be an effective leader and role model in the classroom.

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AYD becomes an integral part of a comprehensive approach to improving student outcomes in math

– Bonding between teachers and students– Changes in beliefs and attitudes– Students will be able to articulate their own role in

learning– Students are increasingly able to work and learn

together

AYD: What can schools expect?

AYD is designed to complement your campus/district improvement efforts.

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Uri Treismanuri@mail.utexas.edu

Contact Information

utdanacenter.org/academicyouth

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• Adelman, C. (2006). The Toolbox Revisited: Paths to Degree Completion from High School Through College. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved February 20, 2006.  http://www.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/toolboxrevisit/index.html

• Aronson, J., Fried, C. & Good, C. (2002). Reducing the Effects of Stereotype Threat on African American College Students by shaping theories of intelligence. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 38, 113-125.

• Aronson, J. & Steele, C.M. (2005). Stereotypes and the fragility of human competence, motivation, and self-concept. In C. Dweck & E. Elliot (Eds.), Handbook of Competence & Motivation. New York, Guilford.

• Dweck, C. S. (2006). Mindset. New York: Random House.• Dweck, C. S. (2007). The Perils and Promises of Praise. Educational Leadership, 65, 34-39. • Good, C., Aronson, J. Inzlicht, M. (2003). Improving Adolescents’ Standardized Test Performance: An

Intervention to Reduce the Effects of Stereotype Threat. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24, 645-662.

• Marks, H.M. (2000). Student engagement in instructional activity: Patterns in the elementary, middle, and high school years. American Educational Research Journal. 37 (1), 153-184.

• National Research Council (2000). How people learn. Brain, mind, experience, and school. National Academy Press.

• Sedlak, M.W., Wheeler, C.W., Pullin, D.C., & Cusick, P.A. (1986). Selling students short: Classroom bargains and academic reform in the American high school. New York: Teacher’s College Press.

• Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist, 52(6), 613-629.

• Steinberg, L., Brown, B., & Dornbusch, S. (1996). Beyond the classroom: Why school reform has failed and what parents need to do. New York: Simon and Schuster.

• Vaughn, (2005). Tipping a middle school to excellence. Paper presented at theTechnology Information Conference for Administrative Leadership, Little Rock, AK.

AYD Selected References