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Board hears two-year progress report on Math Transformations partnership, unit foundations and new performance-task app
Summary
Math Transformations and district teachers described a multi-year effort to build coherent math instruction across grade levels: priority standards, six unit foundations per grade, common assessments, and a student-facing app for performance tasks currently piloted in upper elementary grades.
The Lakeside Union School District board received a progress report on the district’s partnership with Math Transformations, which district staff said has worked with schools since 2017 and intensified work over the last two years to develop cross-district math frameworks, unit foundations and performance-task assessments.
“We want the students at the center of everything we do,” Andrea Buras, CEO of Math Transformations, told the board, and she said the partnership’s goal is “eventually, you don't need us anymore.”
Buras and district teachers described a set of curriculum infrastructure products created with teachers: priority-standards frameworks, curriculum road maps, six unit foundations per grade (described in the presentation as 60 unit foundations districtwide and 240 key experiences), guaranteed experiences and common assessments. The presenters said teachers co-created the materials through lesson study, cross-site planning and co-teaching work with special-education and general-education staff.
Teachers who joined the presentation described classroom practice changes. Vanessa Cochran credited lesson-study work for making math more engaging with manipulatives and games. Ivy Lawler, a fourth-grade teacher, said her classroom now uses frequent performance tasks—she reported doing a performance task almost weekly—to prepare students for state-style assessments and to build students’ ability to write and justify mathematical thinking. Cindy Hilliger said the work included planning for students with special needs and integrating physical education with math activities to increase engagement.
Buras said the district has developed a bank of performance tasks and rubrics, anchor papers and commentaries, and built an app to let students submit written explanations online. She said the app is currently being used primarily with fourth and fifth graders, with plans to expand to younger grades. Buras told the board that performance tasks were designed to help students “think critically, solve complex problems, and communicate their thinking,” and to provide richer evidence for district instructional goals and for state performance tasks.
District presenters recommended next steps that include embedding the materials and routines into daily school practices, continuing cross-site collaboration, producing translated materials for immersion campuses, and using generated reports to set instructional goals. The presenters thanked district leadership for support and said other districts have inquired about Lakeside’s approach.
Ending: The report was received as an informational update; board members praised the work and encouraged further implementation planning and translation for bilingual sites.
