Results

Luther Burbank High School, Sacramento, CA

The Situation

Despite years of work aligning assessments to standards, developing daily objectives to frame their instruction, and using data to track student outcomes, the Math Department at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento was not achieving the results they sought. They were finding that many of their students were not accessing the content that was being taught, and were falling short of the objectives that had been set for them. Instruction was mainly delivered whole group in a "teach and tutor" environment, in which dedicated, hard working teachers would convey information to the class, and then frantically move around the classroom assisting the many students who still did not understand. In an effort to improve pedagogy and better engage all of their students, the math department formed a partnership with Insight Education Group. The goal of the partnership was to build on the good work they had done on the planning end, and translate that thinking into great lesson delivery that helped all students meet and exceed proficiency on standards.

School/District Data

American Indian/Alaskan Native: 1.0% Asian: 37.6% Pacific Islander: 3.2% Filipino: 1.6% Hispanic/Latino: 27.4% African American: 21.1% White: 6.3% Other/Declined to State: 1.9%

Services Provided

Evaluation, Leadership and Strategic Planning, Professional Development and Coaching

Our work with the Burbank High School Math Department combined leadership training and strategic planning with teacher professional development, including:

Through summer training followed by intensive coaching and on-going support, Burbank math teachers developed processes and strategies to engage students in mathematical reasoning and communication. Teachers increased their use of manipulatives, graphic organizers, and employed multiple modes of response to ensure that all students could access the key concepts.

Results

As a result of the partnership with Insight Education Group, all subgroups met or exceeded the 2008 percent proficient target of 32.2%. The school has continuously improved on the California Academic Performance Index (API), and exited Program Improvement status in 2007 as a result of those gains.