Creating Coherence in Math Instruction Across the Fifth Largest District in California

Creating a common language and common frameworks around mathematics instruction at a school district that comprises 68 schools, almost 63,000 students, and over 3,000 teachers is no small task. But the math department at Elk Grove Unified School District in northern California have taken on that task and they are seeing positive results.

“To see that students are consistently performing … is hopeful for us as we continue to progress and students continue to experience math in a new way,” said K-6 Mathematics Program Specialist, Kamarie Cadeaux.

Kamarie, along with Curriculum and Professional Learning Coordinator Tara McCartney and their math team at the district, wanted to create a more equitable math experience for the students in the district to ensure that they all received the same high-quality instruction, regardless of what school, grade, or classroom they were in. And the way to provide that equity was to create coherence in the delivery of math instruction across the district through the creation of a research-based framework, the adoption of a high-quality, rigorous, standards-aligned K-12 math program, enVision® Mathematics by Savvas Learning Company, as their new, district-wide curriculum, and robust teacher support.

“We have worked really hard since the pandemic to unify the district and bring it together under common frameworks and common language,” said Tara.

A Framework for High-Quality Mathematics Instruction

Prior to the pandemic, the district had been using the Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) framework, which is designed to provide educators with academic and behavioral strategies for students with various needs. The framework consists of the following three main tiers for student support: behavioral, social emotional, and academic.

The district had already implemented the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) framework to support its students with behavioral needs. And then they were also working with Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), an organization dedicated to making social-emotional learning part of education. But they needed a solid framework for the academic tier.

For math, the math department started by defining what high-quality math instruction looked like in the classroom. So, they reviewed research, such as John Hattie’s well-known work on instructional practices, as well as what methods were already working in schools within the district, to inform the creation of a framework.

They identified the following guiding principles that would make up that framework: learning targets, success criteria, student talk, active participation, and formative assessment and feedback. In order for math instruction to be considered high quality, those principles, as defined by the district, would need to be present in every classroom.

“Think of the framework as the map that tells me, as a teacher, where I want to direct my students to go,” said fourth grade teacher Cheryl Villavicencio. “Then student talk and the formative assessments and the rigor of instruction are all of the tools that I have in my backpack that I carry with me and distribute to my students in order to give them success on our journey.”

The next step was to find a curriculum that would match those principles and their definition of high-quality math instruction.

Matching a High-Quality Curriculum to High-Quality Instruction

In 2019, just before the pandemic, the math team received word that the district was about to embark on a new K-6 math adoption, which meant that all teachers of math in those grades across 43 elementary schools would be using the same teaching materials — a major step toward achieving common languages and frameworks in math instruction.

Tara enlisted 43 elementary teachers to be part of the committee tasked with reviewing the programs being considered for adoption. The new framework for high-quality math instruction had just been finalized, so the adoption committee was able to use that to create a rubric to guide their decision. They narrowed it down to two, which were piloted by nearly one hundred teachers over the 2021-22 school year. After many conversations and a lot of research, they chose enVision Mathematics to be their core math curriculum.

“enVision is a wonderful support for our instructional framework because we can find all of those supports for our instructional framework in the program,” said Kamarie.

The district was also able to purchase Momentum Math for its screener and diagnostic tool, as well as SuccessMaker Math to provide supplementary intervention or enrichment learning opportunities for students. SuccessMaker personalizes and differentiates learning for every student and provides educators with real-time insights on student mastery and growth. Powered by adaptive technology, the program automatically gives each student just the right targeted scaffolding, feedback, or additional instruction, right when they need it.

“I can use enVision for daily instruction,” said Cheryl, the fourth-grade teacher. “SuccessMaker uses the diagnostic and the screener information from Momentum Math to place a student in an individualized program where they will then complete work at their own level and at their own pace. Each piece has its own place in the curriculum.”

Purposeful Professional Development

In order to ensure the effectiveness of their new math programs as well as their new framework, Tara and the math department put together multiple opportunities for training and support for teachers.

At the beginning of the 2023-24 school year, the district partnered with Savvas to provide training on enVision and all its components with a Savvas educational consultant. Kamarie also created professional development opportunities separate from the enVision training that focused on the framework so that the two separate training tracks would eventually come together and inform each other.

For example, they trained teachers on the instructional framework, focusing different sessions on each of the individual principles, such as identifying learning targets and success criteria, and how to use formative assessments to inform decision making. Teachers could then look at an enVision lesson at the training with Savvas through the lens of the framework and expectations set forth by the district.

“It was kind of nice because we're … allowing [teachers] access to these standards and these development tools at their own pace and at their own rigor,” said Cheryl. “This allowed the teachers understanding of the program, all that it offered, and how to use it best in their own way in order to support their individual group of students.”

After a year of using enVision as their new curriculum, they realized that they now needed to adapt their professional learning to help answer questions teachers have after one year of implementation. So the district offered a new round at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year that was designed to answer the new questions they had about the curriculum.

“That second round of professional development was very beneficial for them,” said Kamarie. “We had a lot of really great feedback. And I think that was what was really important for us — to meet those needs of the teachers.”

Seeing Growth in Math Performance

Tara had expected to see an “implementation dip” in scores after that first year with enVision, since new program implementations can tend to slow down teacher pacing as they get to know all the new material. But to her surprise, scores stayed the same and, in some cases, increased.

“I had one teacher reach out and say, ‘Oh my gosh, look what happened!’” said Tara. “We were hearing things like that, and that was very exciting.”

Fourth grade teacher, Cheryl, said that her class has been on track for the first four weeks of the new 2024-25 school year and that since they took the initial diagnostic with Momentum Math, and working on SuccessMaker three times a week, there's already been an improvement in student understanding of concepts.

“I've seen students gain as much as a month's worth of instruction in filling gaps, and since last year when we formally adopted the program,” she said.

Kamarie said one of the biggest successes of this new implementation is that the teachers are feeling more comfortable and confident with utilizing all of the steps in a program. And that excitement is translating over to the students.

“Teachers are coming back and saying, ‘Oh, my kids are loving this. This is so much fun!’” Kamarie said. “That excitement both on the teacher end and the student end has been huge.”