From the Ground, Up
The grant recipient will address the need to improve content knowledge and instruction where the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics focus. The objectives of this proposal are for the grant recipient to increase in content knowledge and to pilot two lesson study cycles with a primary grade level team. The lesson study approach will focus on ongoing professional development to increase the team's mathematical and pedagogical knowledge of number operations and algebraic thinking by developing three Mathematical Practice Standards among students. These content objectives will be measured by analyzing scores reported from second grade benchmark assessments to determine whether the increases in the areas of number operations and algebraic thinking are significant. Students' demonstrations of the Mathematical Practice Standards in these content areas of mathematics will be measured as teams compare student responses to performance tasks at the beginning and end of a unit.