West Central High School is located in rural, western Illinois with a total enrollment of 232 students in 2019 (Illinois Report Card, 2019). The student population is predominantly white, with only 6.5% of students who are non-white (Illinois Report Card, 2019). According to Illinois Report Card (2019), half of the students at West Central High School come from low-income families, and 13% of the students have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). These populations are notable due to the results on standardized achievement tests, which indicate that the school is not meeting the needs of students of low income or of students with special needs in mathematics. In fact, the school is underperforming across the board in mathematics. Evidence of this statement is visible in Figure 1. West Central High School recognizes this shortcoming and has identified goals in the school improvement plan (SIP) to help improve student performance in mathematics on standardized test. Although the SIP includes several action steps for meeting their goals, a team of colleagues and I have identified West Central High School’s SIP could be improved by including different action steps to reach their goal. In this report is a data analysis supporting the area of need for West Central High School as well as research supporting best practices the school should implement to better serve their students and meet their goal of improving students’ math achievement.

1. Analyzing Data and Exploring
Research Strategies
Sydney Hendricks
American College of Education

2. West Central High School
● Located in rural, western Illinois
● Enrollment: 232 students
● 50% of students are from low income families
● 13% of students have Individual Education Plan (IEP)
Illinois Report Card (2019)

3. Presentation of Data
Figure 1. Percentage of Students Meeting or Exceeding Math Achievement on Standardized
Tests. This figure illustrates the trends in performance by students at West Central High School
over the course of three consecutive years.

4. Data Analysis
● The percentage of ninth graders and eleventh grades who met or exceeded standard in
math achievement increased from 2013-2014 to 2014-2015
○ Ninth grade increased by 45 percentage points
○ Eleventh grade increased by 12 percentage points
● The percentage of eleventh grade students with IEPs who met or exceeded standard in
math achievement decreased from 2013-2014 to 2014-2015
○ 14% in 2013-2014 down to 0% in 2014-2015
● The percentage of tenth grade students who met or exceeded standard in math
achievement decreased from 2013-2014 to 2014-2015
○ 51% in 13-14 down to 29% in 14-15
● All data remained the same from 2014-2015 to 2015-2016

5. Goals
1. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding in math achievement on the
Explore test, including low income and those with special needs, will reach 85%.
2. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding in math achievement on the
Plan test, including low income and those with special needs, will reach 85%.
3. The percentage of students meeting or exceeding in math achievement on the
PSAE, including low income and those with special needs, will reach 85%.

6. Strategy Considered #1
Support the social-emotional wellness of students by explicitly incorporating
self-efficacy instruction into mathematics lessons
● “Self-efficacy beliefs for Math learning and performance were found to predict Math
achievement positively and significantly” (Ozkal, 2019, p.196).
● How to implement this strategy in our school
○ Offer professional development on social-emotional learning, specifically focusing on self-
efficacy.
○ Teachers will collaborate to research and identify instructional strategies that promote the
development of self-efficacy skills.
○ Teachers will collaborate to develop and implement lessons with explicit self-efficacy
instruction.

7. Strategy Considered #2
Adopt the four-year curriculum developed by the University of Chicago School
Mathematics Project (UCSMP).
● Four-year curriculum focused on developing problem solving skills through the use of
real-world applications and the use of technology (What Works Clearinghouse, 2016)
● Active, student-centered approach
● How to implement this strategy in our school
○ Offer professional development on using technology in the classroom
○ Teachers will collaborate with curricular teams to determine how to effectively implement
the curriculum designed by UCSMP.
○ Provide small group coaching sessions for teachers to continue learning how to use
technology and support with understanding the curriculum.

8. Strategy Considered #3
Provide additional mathematics support for students struggling in math by
implementing I CAN Learn as a supplemental instructional and practice program
● Online program with interactive, student-paced lessons (What Works Clearinghouse,
2017)
● Use as a supplement for the curriculum to help struggling learners
● How to implement this strategy in our school
○ Provide training on the I CAN Learn program.
○ Teachers will use formative and summative assessment data to identify struggling students
and recommend them for the program.
○ Teachers will communicate with parents when a student is suggested for the I CAN Learn
program.

9. Research on Strategy #2
● Researcher’s Name: Daniel B. Hirschhorn
● Participants
○ Site A: Students in a college-preparatory magnet school where UCSMP courses were taught.
One-third of the students were minority students, which reflects the population of the school.
○ Site B: Students in an affluent, suburban school. Population was majority white. UCSMP is not
used at this site.
○ Site C: Students in an affluent, suburban school. Population was majority white. UCSMP is not
used at this site.
○ Site B and Site C are the “comparison cohorts” so the students chosen are similar in age and
course to the students chosen in Site A.
○ Altogether, 141 students were included in the study. 58 of the participants were boys and 83
were girls.
Adopt the four-year curriculum developed by the University of Chicago School
Mathematics Project (UCSMP).

10. Research on Strategy #2
● Research Method: Quantitative
● Outcome:
○ “Adopting the USCMP secondary curriculum causes noticeable changes in the student
performance” (Hirschhorn, 1993, p. 154).
○ USCMP students performed better on the Mathematics Level I Achievement Test and on the
Applications Test
○ The comparison students performed better on traditional skills and topics that were de-
emphasized by USCMP, such as factoring in the Algebra course (Hirschhorn, 1993).
○ Although students may lose capacity in skills through the USCMP curriculum, they gain so
much in problem solving and applications of mathematics that is outweighs the loss of skills
(Hirschhorn, 1993).
Adopt the four-year curriculum developed by the University of Chicago School
Mathematics Project (UCSMP).

11. SWOT Analysis
● Strengths
○ Development of thinking skills for students
○ Abundance of resources
■ Student and teacher textbook editions, additional teacher resources, assessment
resources, and assessment assistant resources
● Weaknesses
○ Lack of school resources
○ Cost of curriculum
● Opportunities
○ Interdisciplinary lessons
○ Collaborating with community members
● Threats
○ Drastic shift in approach
○ Pressure for success on standardized tests

12. Evaluation Plan
Formative Evaluation Plan Part 1
● Each team will identify a team leader who will record minutes during team meetings.
● Department chair who will read and analyze the topics of discussion with the purpose of
ensuring that teams are all on track and working diligently to implement the new
curriculum.
○ Department chair can recognize teams who are struggling and intervene with the
necessary support.
● Department chair will meet with team leader to discuss team’s progress.
○ Meetings will be in September, February and May.

13. Evaluation Plan
Formative Evaluation Plan Part 2
● Each teacher will collect summative assessment scores for their own students, which will
then be pooled together with all teachers on that curricular team.
● Team leader will guide a discussion regarding the students’ performance.
○ Focus on identifying struggling populations and identifying practices to better meet
the needs of those students

14. Evaluation Plan
Summative Evaluation Plan
● School leaders will compare standardized achievement scores to previous years

15. References
Hirschhorn, D.B. (1993). A longitudinal study of students completing four years of UCSMP Mathematics. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 24(2), 136-158.
doi: 10.2307/749217
Illinois Report Card: West Central High School: Students. (2019). [Webpage]. Retrieved from
https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/school.aspx?source=studentcharacteristics&Schoolid=330362350260001
Ozkal, N. (2019). Relationships between self-efficacy beliefs, engagement and academic performance in math lessons. Cypriot Journal of Educational Science, 14(2),
190-200. doi: 10.18844/cjes.v14i2.3766
What Works Clearinghouse. (2016). University of Chicago Mathematics Project (UCSMP): WWC Intervention Report. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education
Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, What Works Clearinghouse. Retrieved from
https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/InterventionReports/wwc_ucsmp_052416.pdf
What Works Clearinghouse. (2017). I CAN Learn: WWC Intervention Report. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education
Evaluation and Regional Assistance, What Works Clearinghouse. Retrieved from
https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/Docs/InterventionReports/wwc_ucsmp_052416.pdf