The ATMALA project involved 20 Master Teaching Fellows (MTFs) - middle school and high school teachers of mathematics in high-impact schools - who collaborated with four CSU Fullerton faculty and one school district mathematics specialist to learn about and develop strategies to implement practices reflective of culturally responsive mathematics teaching (CRMT), an approach that values students? cultural assets and focuses on relevant and rigorous mathematical learning experiences. Through processes of examining their own teaching practices as they worked toward National Board Certification (which all 20 MTFs achieved) and listening to and learning from their students? experiences and identities, the MTFs strengthened their ability to engage students in relevant and rigorous mathematics learning. MTFs reported an increase of 70 percentage points (from 25% to 95%) in response to the survey prompt: ?I have a variety of strategies for promoting culturally responsive math teaching.? As one MTF explained, learning about CRMT led them to ?shift the paradigm from ?improving my students? to ?improving my instruction and curriculum? to address the diverse needs of my students.? 

ATMALA project evaluators examined data from student surveys of their perceptions of the learning environment and from direct classroom observations. Each of these measures showed significant positive changes taking place. Students reported their teachers showed more interest in their cultures and communities, invited more students to engage in mathematical discourse, and strengthened the feeling that it was safe to fail as they tried to make sense of mathematics. The classroom observations used the Mathematics Classroom Observation Protocol for Practices (MCOP2; Gleason et. al., 2017) and found significant strengthening in each of the two MCOP2 subscales from project start to end: the mean for Teacher Facilitation of meaningful learning increased from 2.12 (out of 3) to 2.69 and the mean for Student Engagement in processes of mathematical reasoning and sensemaking improved from 2.31 (out of 3) to 2.68.

With respect to promoting professional learning for other teachers about CRMT, MTFs did this in three ways:

1. MTFs mentored 65 CSU Fullerton teacher candidates in their classrooms as student teachers who subsequently became credentialed teachers of mathematics. Credential program faculty commented that when student teachers were placed with ATMALA MTFs, there was better alignment between university coursework emphasizing student-centered, culturally responsive learning and the teaching practices being modeled and encouraged in the fieldwork placement classrooms.

2. MTFs created professional learning materials for other teachers of mathematics to increase their understanding of the importance of CRMT to their practice. MTFs gave 50 presentations about CRMT at local and national conferences over a five-year period. MTFs organized and led a local face-to-face professional learning event that brought 60 teachers of mathematics to spend a summer day at CSU Fullerton learning about CRMT. Over 98% of the attendees agreed with the statement: ?I will be able to apply what I learned in my classroom with my students.? In addition, one journal article has been published by MTFs about their work and two more manuscripts are under review as of the project closing date.

3. With the guidance of the project?s lead faculty, MTFs created and piloted 12 online micro-credential courses (evidence-based interactive professional learning modules lasting six to eight weeks), each focused on one practice related to CRMT. The MTFs facilitated the courses for more than 140 teachers over a three-year period. These courses are available through CSU Fullerton Extension?s Teaching for Equity and Excellence in Mathematics program: https://extension.fullerton.edu/professionaldevelopment/certificates/teem.

Lastly, it is important to mention that the ATMALA project began two and one-half years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning the groundwork for MTFs? understanding of CRMT was in place by 2020. When the pandemic struck, MTFs felt better prepared than their peers (though still challenged) to move their instruction online, to be mindful of the varying contexts of their students? lives and dispositions, and to create supportive classrooms once students returned to schools in person. Learning about CRMT and about online teaching (through developing the micro-credential materials) had positioned MTFs as leaders within their school communities when it came to thinking about how to respond to the changing needs of learners during and after the pandemic. The end result is that MTFs grew as leaders, informally and formally, within their schools and districts. For example, at four school sites MTFs identified and addressed issues of inequitable access to advanced coursework resulting in more Latinx students enrolling in and succeeding with advanced mathematics courses. Other MTFs serve as department chairs and lead teachers, as teacher coaches, and on committees having to do not only with mathematics but also with broader curricular and community concerns. And to all of this work, they bring a strong commitment to issues of equity and access, something explicitly developed during the ATMALA project as a central element of CRMT.

Last Modified: 08/08/2023
Modified by: Mark W Ellis