Testimony Before the DC Council Committee of the Whole on the Mathematics Education Improvement Amendment Act of 2024
By Rachel Johnston, Chief of Staff
Good afternoon, Chairman Mendelson and members of the Committee. My name is Rachel Johnston, and I’m a Ward 4 resident and the Chief of Staff at the DC Charter School Alliance, the local non-profit that advocates on behalf of public charter schools to ensure that every student can choose high-quality public schools that prepare them for lifelong success.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic so severely disrupted our lives, students in DC were seeing steady progress in math. The District was improving faster than any other major city school system in the country. But from 2019 to 2022, DC saw significant decreases in NAEP (1) math scores for 4th and 8th graders, following the national trend. The average DC math score in grades 4 and 8 decreased by 11 points from 2019 to 2022, reaching the lowest level since 2011.
Right now, only 23% of students in DC are proficient in math, less than a 1% increase from school-year 2022-23. Proficiency falls to less than 9% for economically disadvantaged students and less than 8% for students with disabilities. This is a pressing issue. But putting an emphasis on solid math education goes beyond improving test scores. While I may never use the trigonometry skills I learned in high school, learning the fundamentals of math is critical for a wide range of careers because it develops critical thinking, problem-solving skills, logical reasoning, and analytical abilities.
For this reason, I’d like to thank Councilmember Parker for his leadership and members of the Council for prioritizing math and recognizing the need to improve math proficiency for students in the District.
I’d also like to thank the DME and OSSE for partnering with DC public and public charter schools, EmpowerK12, and the DC Education Research Collaborative to form the DC Math Hub, which focuses on sharing evidence-based instructional math strategies. The task force OSSE launched from this work is a great step toward understanding what systems and structures the city needs to put in place to improve math proficiency.
As we look ahead, I offer today a glimpse at what we’ve seen working at DC’s charter schools to close these gaps and what we know about why math is challenging to teach and learn. I will close my testimony by offering a few recommendations for ways we can focus our collective efforts to improve math proficiency in the District.
DC’s Charter Schools’ Bright Spots in Math Education
While citywide growth has been slow, several public charter schools have seen significant increases in the percentage of students who have adequate command of content (3+ CAPE). These schools are implementing evidence-based math strategies that have shown promise in the classroom. For example:
Paul Public Charter School saw a 13.4 percentage point increase since last year, the highest of any high school in the District.
They attribute this increase to several strategies including a new curriculum and their revamped data practices, which have better prepared teachers to regularly examine formative assessment data and make informed instructional decisions.
Friendship Public Charter School’s Armstrong and Woodridge campuses saw double-digit increases since last year (18.6 and 15.9 percentage points respectively).
Across the network, Friendship focuses on a variety of professional development for teachers, which includes many opportunities to collaborate and review upcoming lessons and student data.
Washington Global Public Charter School saw a 7.3 percentage point increase over 2019 levels.
They have a blended learning model that uses both high-quality digital content and traditional teaching to engage students in a variety of ways and ensure content is aligned with interests.
All of these schools, along with many of their peers, also implement small group instruction or tutoring to provide targeted interventions to students based on demonstrated need (2).
Barriers to Success in Math Education
Math is hard to teach and can be hard to learn. It can induce anxiety in teachers and students alike. The subject of math involves abstract concepts that can be difficult for students to understand without visual aids or concrete examples. It’s also a subject with cumulative knowledge that builds on itself. If a student misses a foundational concept, it can be harder to catch up as the topics progress. This makes math daunting and makes it easy for students to lose confidence.
We’ve also seen across the country that the number of new teachers completing STEM certification programs fell by nearly half from 2011 to 2021 (3). Our LEAs have experienced first-hand that math positions are among the hardest to fill. Much like in many places across the country, what often eventually happens is teachers are hired or assigned to teach math without a lot of background in the field. More preparation for math teachers can help to strengthen both knowledge of math and ability to teach the subject.
Recommendations to Improve the Mathematics Education in DC
As we look to next steps, I offer three key recommendations we believe can strengthen our collective ability to create a meaningful path toward improving math education in the District.
First, we need to bolster the pipeline of future math teachers in DC. Just as the DC Council introduced legislation to help fill gaps in the social worker pipeline, we should seek a comparable approach to supporting students in pursuing relevant math degrees. Deeper collaboration with higher education and professional development programs to grow the number of qualified math teachers and then incentivize them to work in DC would be a great benefit to our schools and students across the city.
Second, we must find new and exciting ways to engage students and families in math. This means:
Updating math curriculum to meet the modern world. The struggle with chronic absenteeism also means it is ever more important to reconsider the way we teach core subjects like math. Math instruction needs revamping and reimagining to make sure students feel engaged and see the connections to their careers and aspirations. We also need more opportunities like OSSE’s Advanced Career Technical Center and Center City Public Charter School’s forthcoming 20,000 square-foot Makerspace for real-world application of the math skills students learn in class.
Providing fun activities for students to do at home such as math games to reduce the anxiety many feel when doing math. This should be coupled with supporting caregivers to actively engage in their students' math development.
Prioritizing the way we engage our most marginalized students, including students with disabilities. This means expanding opportunities to share best practices and ensuring Tier I instruction is designed with these students at the forefront.
Third, we must widely share and double-down on evidence-based strategies that work like high quality curriculum, small group interventions and high-impact tutoring, which also helps combat absenteeism. A 2024 study by the National Student Support Accelerator at Stanford University found evidence of a strong causal link between tutoring and attendance.
Moving Forward
A chief area of focus for our school leaders and the DC Charter School Alliance is improving math achievement across the District. We are seeing promising results and bright spots in evidence-based instructional strategies and cross-sector initiatives. We welcome the opportunity to continue to work together on initiatives that will improve math comprehension and in turn increase students’ critical thinking and logical reasoning – skills that are so necessary for all careers.
Thank you for your time and attention, and I welcome your questions.
Citations
National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the Nation’s Report Card
See our one pager on math in public charter schools for more details on these strategies
Edweek, How to Refresh a Dwindling Pipeline of STEM Teachers? Researchers Share Strategies
