TRU+Lesson Study: Professional learning series for high school mathematics departments
As the nature of work in the 21st century continues to evolve, students will need access to high quality mathematics teaching and learning that prepares them for college and career. Schools and districts are being tasked to provide professional development opportunities for teachers to support changes in instructional practice.
Decades of research on professional development has shown that it is most effective when it provides opportunities for sustained attention and reflection of teacher teams on their own instructional content and practice. These opportunities for teachers to learn together are even more critical in the current environment. As students who have experienced learning loss in mathematics return to the classroom, teachers confront an unprecedented challenge to “accelerate learning.” The demands of the time are more likely to be met by teachers working together than by teachers left to struggle alone.
In the years just prior to the pandemic, the Oakland Unified School District partnered with the SERP Institute, Alan Schoenfeld at UC Berkeley (developer of the TRU Framework) and Catherine Lewis at Mills College (expert in Lesson Study) to develop TRU+LessonStudy, a model for sustained and productive collaboration among teachers in high school mathematics departments (also applicable to middle schools). TRU+LessonStudy brings together the TRU framework, which provides a lens for looking at the mathematics classroom and Lesson Study, which provides the structure for an intense and focused experience for professional learning communities into which the TRU dimensions are infused.
TRU+LessonStudy provides sessions for teacher teams to learn together over a two year period. The first year is centered around inquiry into the five dimensions of the TRU Framework: 1) the mathematics, 2) cognitive demand, 3) equitable access to content, 4) agency, ownership and identity, and 5) formative assessment. Teacher communities have an opportunity to investigate how these dimensions show-up in their own classrooms and what can be done to strengthen practice with respect to these essential dimensions. For example, in session 2, teachers orient themselves to the TRU framework by seeing the math classroom through a student’s eyes. Activities in this session include analyzing video of an Algebra II class, looking through the TRU lens at how students in a small group solve a depreciation problem.
In Year 2, departments engage in cycles of Lesson Study framed by the five TRU Dimensions focusing in depth on their own instructional practice.
These sessions can be led by a member of the school mathematics department or an external instructional coach. Materials are designed to be facilitator friendly, and do not require extensive preparation ahead of time or extensive experience with facilitation. Each session includes an agenda, slides, facilitator notes, handouts, and classroom video (when applicable) to support collaborative learning over the course of two years (or more).
Fremont High School in Oakland, CA used TRU+Lesson Study. The district’s math coordinator and a math coach presented on the work at a conference and their presentation can be viewed here (video • handout). In it, they refer to feedback, such as the following:
from teachers:
I would say, the biggest value is being able to grow as a team. Consistency and common language to discuss with the TRUMath framework makes it easier to go into conversation in inquiry cycles or practicing a particular instructional strategy together. We are communicating in a common way and built that foundation. Having space and time to do that consistently year over year means that the team grows. We continue to retain teachers that are growing every year and learning together every year. The consistency has been really important.
from instructional coaches:
We built strong collective efficacy by using TRU. TRU helped us create a shared vision of instruction with enough flexibility for the team to explore what really matters to them.
from administrators:
TRU-Math meetings means we are talking about instruction; other department meetings are often taken up by other things like finals schedule, etc
