NCDPI grant enhancing early math instruction

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

The Center for STEM Education has received third-year funding of $881,904 from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction to continue to offer professional development for K-2 teachers in six school districts with the goal of improving students’ understanding of math concepts.

The center’s project APLUS (Assessment Practices to Support Mathematics Learning and Understanding for Students) is a professional development program for teachers in kindergarten through second grade (K-2); it provides them with assessment techniques to administer to their students that yields data concerning the student(s) understanding of early math concepts, such as number values and placement and addition and subtraction.

David Pugalee, director of the Center for STEM Education, housed in the College of Education, said APLUS provides teachers the ability to gather individual and group data.

“We help teachers better understand the data and how the data can improve teacher instruction and student learning,” stated Pugalee, who is principal investigator on the three-year project. He and fellow UNC Charlotte researchers Vic Cifarelli, Department of Mathematics and Statistics; Drew Polly, Department of Reading and Elementary Education; and Michelle Stephen, Department of Middle, Secondary and K-12 Education; are collaborating with Susan Friel and Kay Middleton from UNC Chapel Hill and East Carolina University, respectively, to provide instruction to teachers in Avery County, Buncombe County, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Elizabeth City Pasquotank Schools, Kannapolis City Schools and Orange County.

Pugalee stressed the importance of early support for math students; he noted recent research studies illustrate that number understanding of K-2 students is a greater predictor of their future academic success than literacy skills.

“These studies emphasize we (educators) have not placed enough attention to number understanding. APLUS responds to this research to provide K-2 teachers with assessments they can use to know how well their students understand numbers,” said Pugalee.

As a professional development program, APLUS consists of 80 hours of instruction, primarily through a summer institute that is supplemented throughout the year with follow-up sessions and online learning modules. Participating teachers also receive three resource books that provide techniques to adjust teaching strategies based upon data from their classes.

The primary mission of the Center for STEM Education is to improve the quality of STEM teaching and learning in the University’s 18-county service region. However, this three-year project demonstrates the center’s leadership and influence across the state.

“UNC Charlotte and the Center for STEM Education are conducting important research and initiating programs that have statewide impact on curriculum implementation and educational policy,” Pugalee stated.

To date, more than 1,000 teachers and assistants have been trained through the APLUS project, including a cadre of 25 teacher-leaders who can sustain the program after the grant ends.

“Districts can continue to use this program, which speaks to the strength and impact of APLUS,” said Pugalee. “Our teacher-leaders can extend the project to other school districts, which is a model for us to revisit in future projects. By building a program that works with multiple districts, it is more sustainable after funding ends, which means there is greater potential for statewide impact.”

According to Pugalee, initial analysis of APLUS indicates that data teachers obtain from their students leads to instructional changes that affect how quickly students master concepts and are ready to move to new concepts.

Formal end-of-grade assessment begins in third grade; schools whose teachers utilize APLUS beginning in kindergarten can provide up to three years of data on students’ number understanding that third grade teachers can use as a benchmark.