System Shifts to Scale Effective Math Teaching Practices

During their final year of the P3CC Collaboration, Central Unified School District is focused on developing shifts within their district system to successfully scale and sustain effective math teaching practices. 

Central has identified specific focal practices from their PreK-3rd grade coherence efforts that they aim to spread and scale, which include facilitating math conversations, using open and engaging tasks, and supporting students in using tools and representations of their choice. Central Unified teachers are enthusiastic about providing the best math instruction for their students, and participating teachers have greatly valued the learning experiences they have had as part of the P3CC collaboration. 

Initial evidence from Central’s P3CC efforts shows improvement in the Summative SBAC Math Distance From Standard for 3rd Grade at a pilot site; student scores have improved from -26.8 in 2022 to -12.2 in 2023 to +5.1 in 2024. To further scale these positive outcomes, they invited all interested teachers and administrators from their elementary schools to join their monthly team meetings, which have expanded to 13 elementary sites. 

To build on this momentum and scale beyond early elementary grades, Central Unified transitioned this school year to a PreK-2nd grade team (now called P2CC in Central Unified) and launched a 3rd-6th Coherence Collaboration in the Fall of 2024 (now called 36CC). The 36CC work follows a similar structure as P3CC, with monthly team meetings and three local convenings for deeper learning and collaboration. Central’s 36CC focuses on the same Four Fundamentals for System Coherence and Impact as their P3CC and On Track Teams. Central leveraged existing structures and created new structures, like 36CC, within their district system to support the scaling and sustaining of effective math teaching practices. Central Unified plans to continue leveraging these structures, ongoing learning, and educator collaboration to enhance site-based learning through staff meetings and within grade level professional learning communities (PLCs), deepening and scaling effective math teaching practices to engage their students in rich mathematical learning and achieve the goals outlined in their Academic Blueprint 3.0.