July 19, 2019
July 20, 2019

Since 2013, 10 California school districts, small and large, rural and urban, have been collaborating on strategies to improve student achievement in math under the Common Core standards, perhaps the state’s biggest academic challenge. A five-year evaluation of their project, known as Math in Common, documents their struggles and some promising strategies that could benefit other districts. 

This week, two educators involved in the initiative share their insights: Vicky Armstrong, chief academic officer of rural Dinuba Unified, and Laura Schwalm of California Education Partners, an organization that guided the collective work. 

We also discuss another foundation-backed initiative, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Networks for School Improvement, which held a conference this week at the University of Maryland to review what has been accomplished during its first year. Four grantees, including the CORE Districts  in California and California Education Partners, are working on projects whose goal is to improve the performance of black, Latino and low-income students.

For more, see the following articles: