Implementing Tasks in 10th Grade Curiculum

The PISA framework in mathematics inspires the foundation’s roadmap in middle school. It was intentionally designed to mirror the skills needed for work and life in the 21^st century. Therefore, in the past three years, the foundation supported the development of learning materials which promote high-level mathematical thinking aligned with the excellence levels of PISA. Since teaching these topics requires deep learning over several years, these learning materials are implemented in classrooms as of eighth and ninth grades.

The upcoming cycle of the PISA assessment, which will be administered from March to May 2022, could enhance the motivation to use the new material. Since PISA is administered primarily to 10^th grade students, this year the immediate focus will naturally shift to 10^th grade. Such focus may compete with the regular curriculum which concentrates on procedural fluency and abstract thinking. In addition, this year will be even more challenging due to the learning gaps created during last year’s school closures.

To address these challenges simultaneously, we intend to approach the developers of the new learning material. We are planning to ask them to consider adapting the tasks they developed to 10^th grade so that they correspond to both the 10^th grade five-unit mathematics curriculum and the 5-6 top proficiency levels of PISA. In order to facilitate this modification, we are proposing to issue a call for proposals to our existing grantee partners. The call for proposals will identify those who are interested in customizing their learning material and in mentoring teachers as they implement the material in the classroom.

We aim to partner with five of the developers in order for them to create 10 learning communities of teachers. Approximately 150 teachers of five unit mathematics in 10^th grade will participate in these communities during this school year where they will become familiar with the new tasks and implement them in their classrooms. The expectation is that each developer will commit in advance to creating at least two learning communities.