TGC Monthly - March 2015

TEXAS

GRADUATE

CENTER Monthly

March 2015

TGC now offering Student University Tours Harvard Professor Visits RGV To Discuss Quality Math Instruction Donna School Board Recognizes math Teachers

February 2015 Annenburg hall, harvard university

TEXAS

GRADUATE

CENTER Monthly

President Dr. Roland Arriola Executive Director Dr. Mary Alice Reyes

About Us:

The Texas Graduate Center (TGC), a component of the Texas Valley Communities Foundation, has been established to support programs in higher education that will guide new and emerging leaders in education to implement transformational change that will impact schools and communities. TGC will offer distance learning graduate programs from outstanding universities in the areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The TGC will make available the latest telepresence technology and virtual classrooms with direct connection to world-class undergraduate and graduate programs from across the country. TGC will also serve as a college and career readiness facilitator offering assistance in selecting, preparing and enrolling in nationally recognized graduate programs.

2 | Texas Graduate Center

Associate Director Adriana V. Lopez Designer/ PHOTOGRAPHER David Alvarado Academic Advisor Dr. Edwin LeMaster TGC OFFICES 1098 W. Expressway 83 Mercedes, Texas 78570

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In this issue...

Harvard University Extension School

The Texas Graduate Center has partnered with the Harvard University Extension School to implement the Math for Teaching Graduate Program. Harvard Extension School is one of the twelve degreegranting schools of Harvard University, offering professional certificates and liberal arts-based undergraduate and graduate degree programs aimed at nontraditional students, as well as openenrollment continuing education courses.

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How Does Language & Location Affect Algebra Scores? s teachers who reside and teach in both locations, we constantly see an influx of students who come from Mexico and enroll in public schools near the border.

Many students make the journey across the border every morning to come to school and travel back home at the end of the day. With all the movement, we’ve noticed that certain schools out score other schools on the End of Course (EOC) state exams.

10 MATHTEACH Collaborative “At-A-Glance”

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ATHTEACH is composed of local school districts committed to supporting their teachers in earning a Master of Liberal Arts in Mathematics for Teaching from Harvard University. This three-year graduate program is delivered through distance learning and includes a residency requirement to attend Harvard during the summer sessions.

ABOVE: The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) or the Lower Rio Grande Valley (when referring to the eight county region), informally called The Valley, is an area located in the southernmost tip of South Texas.

It lies along the northern bank of the Rio Grande, which separates Mexico from the United States.

Texas Graduate Center

UNIVERSITY STUDENT TOURS exclusive to our mathteach collaborative partners!

Students will visit the following schools:

Harvard University Massachusets Institute of Technology

Brown University Boston University

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GIRLS ENGAGED IN MATHEMATICS

Building CONFIDENCE and reducing MATH ANXIETY The notion that only boys can become scientists and engineers has persisted over time. Studies have shown that negative stereotypes about girls’ abilities in mathematics and science have impacted their performance in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and math) areas.

to schedule a gem camp at your school, contact: Executive Director, Dr. Mary Alice Reyes 956.903.4231 | mareyes@tvcof.org

Girls Engaged in Mathematics is a public-private initiative of the Texas Valley Communities Foundation

February 2015

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he goal of this research is to determine if Rio Grande Valley students who live and attend a school further from the Texas-Mexico border score higher on average on the Texas End of Course Algebra I exam than those students who reside and attend a school near the border. As teachers who reside and teach in both locations, we constantly see an influx of students who come from Mexico and enroll in public schools near the border. Many students make the journey across the border every morning to come to school and travel back home at the end of the day. With all the movement, we’ve noticed that certain schools out score other schools on the End of Course (EOC) state exams. Mr. Tobias is a mathematics teacher who teaches at a school that consistently does well on state exams. The school Mr. Tobias teaches at consists of students who live approximately 30

6 | Texas Graduate Center

miles away from the Texas-Mexican border. Mr. Barrera, another mathematics teacher, teaches at school that is under TEA review due poor EOC scores in Math and English.

The school Mr. Barrera teaches at consists of students who live no more than 6 miles away from the border, with many students living across the border. The two schools of study are approximately 20+ miles apart, but there exist much diversity between the campuses.

Fifty-four seniors were selected randomly from each campus. The data included the gender, raw score of exam, whether a student is an ESL student (English as a Second Language), and if the student is an “At Risk” student. Because the students were selected randomly, we are confident that the sample is a good representation of the senior student body at each campus. We ran a t – test to see whether the means of the two groups are statistically different

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Cohort 1 members Julio Tobias (ABOVE), teacher at ECISD. Juan Barrera (BELOW), teacher at PSJA ISD.

February 2015 The results sparked much interest and has us re-evaluate just how we are teaching our content. We quickly conlcuded that seniors who attended the Edinburg North campus will score higher on average than seniors who attended the Southwest campus

Mexico 8 | Texas Graduate Center

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from each other. The results showed that students who attend the campus further from the border score, on average, 3.6 to 11.4 points higher on their Algebra I EOC exam than those students who attend the campus near the Texas-Mexican border (P –value < 0.001).

Our model shows that for one ESL student, holding all other variables constant, the average score will decrease by 6 points.

This study has prompted us to reevaluate our ESL teaching strategies. maybe mathematics is not the issue here; rather, maybe it is the language barrier an ESL student faces that presents itself to be the greater obstacle

So for an ESL student who attends Southwest and is considered At – Risk, we can expect the score to decrease by about 18 points, holding constant the other variables. We ran a two sample t-test and found the results to be statistically significant (P = 1.184e – 09). Non – ESL students were scoring, on average, about 9 to (see TEST 2). The mean score of a 16 points higher than ESL students Non – ESL student in our sample is about 31 while an ESL student’s mean score is about 19.

The results from our t-tests and reatte nd th e c a m pus gression model are as one would expect. Students who attend a school near the Texas – Mexico border will have a higher number of ESL from the border students than a school who resides score further north from the border. Our study shows that there seems to be an association between a student’s language status (ESL vs. Non-ESL) and their Algebra I EOC score.

Students who

FURTHER 3.6 to 11.4 pts

HIGHER on their Algebra EOC Exam

which prevented us from extending these results to a wider population, was our educator accounts on D – MAC. These accounts restricted us to data regarding our own students.

As teachers at these campuses, we are still confident that our sample is a good representation of the senior student body at each campus. For future research, Mr. Tobias and Mr. Barrera have submitted a request to their respective districts for access to the rest of the underclassmen high school student’s data and middle schools that feed into these two high schools. Further research may This study has prompted us to fo- shed light on campuses that reside cus and reevaluate our ESL teaching in the area, and provide teachers strategies. Maybe mathematics is with greater insight and focus on not the issue here; rather, maybe it their ESL teaching strategies. is the language barrier an ESL student faces that presents itself to be the greater obstacle.

A limitation that we encountered,

February 2015

MATHTEACH COLLABORATIVE

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AT-A-GLANCE

ATHTEACH is composed of local school districts committed to supporting their teachers in earning a Master of Liberal Arts in Mathematics for Teaching from Harvard University. This three-year graduate program is delivered through distance learning and includes a residency requirement to attend Harvard during the summer sessions.

As members of MATHTEACH, school districts will also receive Leadership Capacity Building and Teacher Training in Mathematics conducted by Harvard faculty and Student College and Career Readiness and Parent Engagement sessions provided by teachers in the program at their respective schools.

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on track to meet graduation requirements

Average Attendance Rate:

PROFESSIONAL Leadership Series:

12 Workshops Provided by Harvard Faculty in Leadership Capacity Building & Mathematics

10 | Texas Graduate Center

ATTENDEES:

202

118

School Districts

School Districts

23

26

42

362

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Student Leadership Series: CONDUCTED BY HARVARD GRADUATE STUDENTS

GEAR UP STUDENTS ATTENDING

2013 Hanging with Harvard I

144

18 School Districts

2014 Hanging with Harvard II

109

18 School Districts

2015 Hanging with Harvard III

81

13 School Districts

Texas Graduate Center

Cohort IV Is now formIng! • Harvard University Extension School • Cohort Learning Model • 3-year Master’s program • Virtual Classroom Learning

Submit your application online at www.txgraduatecenter.org/application

February 2015

Teaching Geometry

Differently When: Saturday, April 18, 2015 Where: Region One ESC Time: 8:30 am - 1:00 pm

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Daniel Plas

PhD, Baylor College of Medicine, 2005 Major: Neuroscience BS, The University of Texas-Austin, 1986 Major: Physics BA, Harvard University, 1980 Major: Economics 12 | Texas Graduate Center

Texas Graduate Center and Region One ESC GEAR UP: Ready, Set, College! Partnership

Invite you to join us as we explore how geometry can be taught and learned differently. Sessions are presented by Rio Grande Valley teachers in the Mathematics for Teaching Masters program at Harvard University.