So, what do you do when your whole school’s math scores are low? Not just one class. EVERYONE. Where do you even start?

I got this question from Barbara through my Questions for Christina form. Her school was rated unsatisfactory in mathematics and she specifically asked me about improving numeracy school-wide.

So in this post, I’m going to walk you through the two things I would check first if I came into your school: whether you have consistency happening, and which part of mathematical rigor might be missing. Then I’ll share the one simple starting point I’d use to get your whole building doing the same thing next week, because it builds number sense in every grade from kindergarten through fifth.

Check #1: Is There Consistency?

If you’ve been around Build Math Minds for a while, you know I am not a fan of math textbooks. There isn’t a perfect one. There’s been a big push toward adopting specific textbooks as if they’ll be the thing that fixes everything. And they aren’t. They’re usually missing something.

BUT, the one thing textbooks do bring is consistency.

And we know consistency matters:

• Consistency in the visuals you’re using
• Consistency in language
• Consistency in math vocabulary
• Consistency in the progression of the mathematical topics that are taught

A textbook brings a lot of that to the table. So if you don’t have some form of consistency running through your building, that’s where you need to start. And yes, that can start with a textbook.

Check #2: Which Part of Mathematical Rigor Is Missing?

Once you’ve got that foundation of consistency in place, all the way through every grade level, I want you to look at what part of mathematical rigor is missing.

There are three pieces to mathematical rigor:

1. Conceptual understanding
2. Procedural fluency
3. Application

This is one of the reasons I don’t often recommend textbooks or give my opinion on them. I really have not found one that has all three.

If it’s a very conceptual-based textbook, it’s often lacking in procedural fluency. If it’s very procedural-fluency driven, it’s often lacking conceptual understanding.

And then you also need to ask: is it giving kids a chance to apply that knowledge to new and unique situations they haven’t been directly taught? Can they apply it in a real-life context that ISN’T part of the lesson they just did?

The “number plucker” problem

Here’s what typically happens in a textbook. We do a lesson on addition. We teach kids how to do it. Then the story problem at the end of the lesson is…addition. Kids know we were just doing addition, so they don’t even have to think through the problem. They pluck out the numbers and do whatever the lesson was about.

That’s not application. That’s kids becoming number pluckers.

So dig into whatever curriculum resource you are using consistently across your building and look for what it’s missing: conceptual understanding, procedural fluency, or application. My guess? It’s missing something.

Once you know what’s missing, THEN you go in search of a supplement for the resources you already have. What that supplement is totally depends on what you’re missing.

Where Barbara’s School Should Start

Where Barbara’s school should start is going to be different than where yours should start, but since she asked, let’s look at hers.

She called out the need to improve numeracy school-wide. That tells me they are most likely lacking in conceptual understanding. That’s pretty typical of most textbooks, because textbooks just ASSUME kids have number sense.

There are eight number sense concepts I walk educators through in my online course, the Flexibility Formula. (If you haven’t taken the course, I have another video that gives a brief overview of all eight.)

But the very first place I would start out of those eight is subitizing.

Subitizing is the ability to instantly see how many without counting. And the reason I start here is that subitizing is the jumping-off point for so many of the other number sense concepts.

Here’s what makes it perfect for a school-wide focus: it grows with your students. It isn’t just a kindergarten thing.

• Subitizing small amounts for your youngest learners

• Subitizing larger amounts as kids get into multi-digit work

• Subitizing with multiplication

• Subitizing with money

• Subitizing with fractions

Every grade level, K-5, can be doing subitizing next week.

Make it a WHOLE-school thing

And I don’t just mean every classroom teacher. Get EVERYONE in your building on board:

• Have the PE teacher put up subitizable images to designate the stations students rotate to.
• Use subitizable images in the lunchroom to label the tables.

The goal is for students to see subitizable visuals all throughout the school, not just during math time.