School leaders say new state law is improving math proficiency

Apr. 19—Testing data shows students locally and throughout the state struggle even more with math proficiency than reading, yet unlike the Literacy Act, the Numeracy Act includes no provision for holding back students who fail to test at grade level in math.

Laura Lamb, principal of Barkley Bridge Elementary in Hartselle, said students should learn and comprehend foundational math skills before they enter the fourth grade. If they cannot, she said, retention should be considered.

"If they don't learn those skills when they enter the fourth grade, it's too late then," Lamb said. "Sometimes, the retention is necessary just to let those students practice more and mentally mature."

The Numeracy Act, sponsored by state Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, passed in 2022 and was established to improve math proficiency of public school students in kindergarten through fifth grades. Over time, the act will ensure math coaches for those grades in every elementary school in the state as well as professional development for teachers and administrators and intervention for struggling students.

The Numeracy Act was passed after the Alabama Literacy Act, sponsored by Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, passed in 2019. The Literacy Act focuses on improving reading scores of public school students in kindergarten through third grade with the goal of ensuring they can read at or above grade level before leaving third grade, or possibly be held back.

Decatur Superintendent Michael Douglas said he would not support a retention piece if added to the Numeracy Act and opposed the retention provision in the Literacy Act.

"The one thing that would help with math wouldn't be retention, it's the professional development we are getting from the Numeracy Act and being able to hire math coaches to assist teachers," Douglas said. "I'm never in favor of one test on one day resulting in retention."

Collins is the chair of the House Education Policy Committee. She said retention is necessary for students who cannot read proficiently by fourth grade but did not believe the same was necessary for math skills.

"The challenge with literacy is you learn to read up until third grade and after third grade they expect you to know how to read in order to learn," Collins said Thursday. "There's not a cut-off part or a time we stop teaching math. You just build on your concepts, but in literacy after third grade, they are truly expected to read. When we were working on (the Literacy Act) in 2019, I always said if we promote a child out of third grade who does not know how to read, we're failing that child."

Collins said Orr had originally considered adding a retention piece while drafting the Numeracy Act, but he, Collins, and other lawmakers eventually decided against it.

"It was pretty much decided across the board that that wasn't appropriate for the Numeracy Act," Collins said.

Orr could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The Literacy Act states if third grade students fail to demonstrate reading proficiency on the standardized Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP), they will be able to take the test two more times before a decision is made on whether they advance to the fourth grade.

Collins said she spoke with education officials in Mississippi, who have a similar law, while she was drafting the Literacy Act and said they stood behind the retention provision as a key to its success in improving reading skills.

"When I visited Mississippi to learn about their success, their Department of Education told me the part that truly made it work was the retention," Collins said. "I would debate that (retention) is not based on one test score. There are exemptions and they can go through a summer program and teachers can build portfolios to show you can read on grade level.

"The bill has always been about promoting students but it's making sure we're promoting them, ready to read."

Douglas said Decatur City Schools was able to hire math coaches for all 12 elementary schools as well as Austin Middle and Decatur Middle for this school year with federal funding and said the Numeracy Act guarantees their employment for another school year. — Math testing

Douglas said his teachers have modified their instructional methods and have their students answer questions laid out in a similar format as the ACAP standardized test, used to evaluate both math and reading proficiency.

"The issue with math on the ACAP is that kids can do the math, but they're having a hard time understanding what the question is asking and it all goes back to reading," Douglas said. "When it talks about two-paragraph word problems, they can do 67 times 46, but that's not how the question is asked. It's very much application of the math and not basic math that the students are struggling with."

With all the added support from the state, Douglas said he expects math and reading proficiency to rise by at least 3 percentage points next school year.

"We always try to get a 3 to 5 (percentage point) gain every year," Douglas said. "I'll take any gain but if you can get 3 (percentage points), that's a really good improvement."

Douglas said he expects students to be proficient in reading by the time they leave third grade and should be proficient in math by the end of sixth grade.

Cherie Humphries, Morgan County Schools director of elementary curriculum and instruction, said she would like to see several opportunities for students to advance through school if a retention piece went into effect for the Numeracy Act.

"With the Literacy Act, students are given several avenues for promotion to the fourth grade," Humphries said. "If there was a retention component added to the Alabama Numeracy Act, I would hope that they would have several avenues for promotion to the next grade level."

Humphries said she is expecting her district's math proficiency to grow with the three math coaches hired for the 2024-25 school year. The Numeracy Act calls for math coaches in all K-5 schools before the 2027-28 school year.

"According to scores, we will be getting a math coach for Lacey's Spring Elementary, West Morgan Elementary, and West Morgan Middle," Humphries said. "We would love one for every school, but we're excited to get the three."

She said they hired two out of the three math coaches last week and will begin training them this summer.

Humphries said she supported the Numeracy Act and the professional development it provides teachers for the current math standards. She said it is the most support the state has given her school district to assist with math curricula.

"Now, we have the Office of Mathematics Improvement and that's going to be a huge support for districts," Humphries said. "We didn't have that before (the Numeracy Act). We did have the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative, and they are a great support, but they are spread thin."

In Hartselle City Schools, over 50% of students in all three elementary schools tested proficient in math last school year.

Barkley Bridge's Lamb said educators should focus on second and third grade students' math skills and decisions should be made on grade advancement from there.

"In second grade, students learn basic addition and subtraction and we work on understanding those concepts so they can recall things quickly," Lamb said. "By the time they get to fourth grade, there are multi-step problems. If they struggle with making a one-step problem correct, then they won't be able to handle all the processes that go into place within a complex problem."

Lamb said educators need to trust the state's current math standards because of the broader foundational skills they teach.

Barkley Bridge third grade math teacher John Mark Waynick said he does not support retention based on standardized testing.

"Me personally, I don't like the retainment part of the Literacy Act, so I wouldn't support a retainment (for math)," Waynick said.

Waynick has been an educator for 22 years and said if both parents and students work to thoroughly adapt to the current math standards, more elementary students across the state will grow more proficient in math.

He said most adults in Alabama were taught mathematics with only a few methods to solve math problems while children now are being taught several methods and strategies.

"When I was in school, I had friends around me who couldn't understand math problems the way the teacher showed them and she told them that's the one way you solve them," Waynick said. "Well, in my experience, there is not just one way to do math. There are multiple strategies and different ways of thinking and the key is honing in on how a child perceives a problem and can put numbers together with whatever operation to help them comprehend."

Waynick said he has seen frustration in parents because they did not learn mathematics the way their children learn today.

"A lot of parents struggle when their child comes home with a math problem and says, 'Mr. Waynick showed me how to do it this way,' and the parent is like, 'Well, that's not how I learned it,'" Waynick said. "The parents may not see it that way and so it's confusing to them. That's where we get a lot of kickback."

— wes.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442.