Transformational Learning in Action: Gladstone Elementary School

To substantially change curriculum and instruction, teachers need to change their assumptions about their role in the classroom

By Jim Short and Stephanie Hirsh November 18, 2020

Professional Learning for Educators

This article is part of a series of stories included in The Elements: Transforming Teaching through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning, a challenge paper from Carnegie Corporation of New York that explores how professional learning anchored in high-quality curriculum materials allows teachers to experience the instruction their students will receive and change their instructional practices, leading to better student outcomes.

To the untrained eye, Gladstone Elementary School in Kansas City, Missouri, seemed to be thriving. It was a nurturing, supportive environment where caring teachers taught energetic classes and students were busy and happy. But academic achievement in math was persistently below expectations. The school applied for a grant and hired Instruction Partners, a curriculum and instructional support provider, to study instruction and academic standards. They determined that lessons were inconsistent across classrooms but consistently below grade level. Math classes needed to change.

At first, teachers and leaders at the small K–5 school wanted to develop their own math curriculum. Staff believed they knew their students best and that with intense study of Missouri’s learning standards and guidance from Instruction Partners, they could develop high-quality learning materials for their school. Teachers prided themselves on their strong relationships with students, and using an off-the-shelf curriculum seemed at odds with the customized learning experiences they wanted to create for their 440 students.

Teachers as learners, I would say, was the biggest block because teachers were performers. And the fact that they were oriented toward performance never brought about instructionally relevant conversations as part of their normal experiences as teachers.

Valery Dragon, director of instructional support at Instruction Partners

But that approach kept the focus on what teachers were doing rather than what students were learning. To substantially change curriculum and instruction, teachers would have to change their assumptions about their role in the classroom.

“They had really internalized teaching as something you do, and something you do to kids,” said Valery Dragon, director of instructional support at Instruction Partners. “Although it was a great community, it wasn’t necessarily a learning organization or a learning community. So, teachers as learners, I would say, was the biggest block because teachers were performers. And the fact that they were oriented toward performance never brought about instructionally relevant conversations as part of their normal experiences as teachers.”

Gladstone’s teachers and leaders, together with Instruction Partners, began studying high-quality curriculum alongside rigorous state math standards. Instruction Partners taught a sample lesson from the Eureka Math program, with teachers participating in the student role. This gave teachers direct experience and fresh insight into how inquiry-based instruction differed from their students’ daily experiences. Then, as teachers gathered materials and worked to develop their own aligned curriculum over the next year, a fast-growing group chose to use Eureka Math lessons instead. All the while, coaches and leaders were conducting classroom walk-throughs to check whether instruction was in line with academic standards and offer real-time coaching and feedback. These classroom visits were informed by the standards-driven Instructional Practice Guide developed by Student Achievement Partners, which provides tools for coaches and administrators to support teacher learning.

“Once the teachers started using the Eureka resources, the teachers were getting that feedback, and I think that gave them the encouragement — okay, I’m now giving my kids what they need, they’re on grade level, it’s scaffolded appropriately, it’s sequential through the grade levels,” said Gladstone Principal Dana Carter. “And I think that excited them, just to be able to give the kids what we know is right, what we learned was right from our own experience.”

Gladstone then moved to adopt Eureka Math across the school, with supports for teachers focused on learning the new curriculum rather than developing their own. Teachers rehearsed lessons in regular meetings for their grade level and recorded videos of their classes for coaching. During classroom visits, Instruction Partners coaches would model lessons, observe, and offer suggestions. Teachers worked to change common practices that, while well-intended, compromised learning, such as not giving students enough time to struggle or allowing their own voice to fill silences and dominate discussion.

An ongoing challenge is moving from “watching” to “tracking,” Carter said. When teachers circulate throughout the classroom during student group work, they typically check for understanding and offer guidance. But more effective instruction also involves the teacher keeping track of common misconceptions and guiding students to identify and dismantle them.

Adopting Eureka Math was not a comfortable or easy process. But once teachers saw their students experience inquiry- based lessons, “there was an acceptance that what they had been giving students was not enough,” said Dragon. And because the curriculum shift and professional learning were rooted in teachers’ own experiences and built on a solid base of standards and research, they have allowed for the sort of “deep internalization” that supports dramatic, durable change, said Carter.

Otherwise, “I don’t think it would have been successful at all,” Carter said. “Typically, professional development in the district is basically an overview. ‘These are some tools that you could use. Use this strategy.’ But it’s not actually going deep into each individual lesson. It’s not preparing by playing the actual games that the students are required to play in the lesson, doing the actual math, having your questions written out. These are the things that we’re working on.”

How can we make professional learning work better for teachers and their students?

Discover essential guidance for transforming teaching and student learning by downloading The Elements: Transforming Teaching through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning.