{"id":298,"date":"2025-07-30T20:59:57","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T20:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mssqlguide.com\/?p=298"},"modified":"2026-01-22T09:53:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T09:53:51","slug":"why-this-state-is-requiring-50-hours-of-math-training-for-teachers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mssqlguide.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/30\/why-this-state-is-requiring-50-hours-of-math-training-for-teachers\/","title":{"rendered":"Why This State Is Requiring 50 Hours of Math Training for Teachers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As her 7th graders wrapped up the school year this past spring, Louisiana math teacher Lerinda Baham was finishing a class of her own\u2014a 50-hour teacher training in middle school math.<\/p>\n

With the time-intensive course, required for all 4th-8th grade teachers in the state, Louisiana has joined a growing group of states that are banking that big investments in professional learning and intervention for struggling students can raise math achievement.<\/p>\n

Over the 2024-25 school year, Baham worked through the training\u2019s modules, designed to deepen teacher knowledge and make explicit the way math skills taught in elementary years build a foundation for higher-level concepts in middle school.<\/p>\n

Learning more about these connections through grades was \u201creally valuable,\u201d Baham said, helping her better understand what prior knowledge she could draw on when introducing new information to her students.<\/p>\n

Still, she didn\u2019t feel that the training was as useful as it could have been. The lessons were online and asynchronous; teachers in her district worked through them solo and didn\u2019t have dedicated time to discuss in person.<\/p>\n

As more states launch initiatives in math teacher training, Louisiana\u2019s effort offers some lessons\u2014and highlights the implementation challenges inherent to any large-scale attempt to deepen teachers\u2019 knowledge and shift their practice.<\/p>\n

Even with intensive study of the theory behind math instruction, some teachers said they still wanted more practical strategies to support students who were multiple grade levels behind, with clear connections to the materials they\u2019re already using in the classroom.<\/p>\n

The content, Baham said, focused on developing students\u2019 conceptual understanding, without as much emphasis on strategies to build fluency.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can say that all you want,\u201d said Baham, referencing the importance of drawing out students\u2019 thinking. \u201cBut at the end of the day with limited time in the classroom, it\u2019s like, what actually works?\u201d<\/p>\n

Louisiana wants teachers \u2018understanding the why\u2019 behind math<\/h2>\n

Over the past few years, several states have passed legislation<\/a> targeting this foundational instruction in math. <\/p>\n

Often cited is Alabama, which in 2022 mandated early screening and intervention for math difficulties and assigned 1-2 math coaches to every public K-5 school. It\u2019s now the only state where 4th grade math scores are higher than they were pre-pandemic on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to have professional development for teachers; they have to have the knowledge, best practices for instructional delivery, just as for math as they do for reading,\u201d said Kristen Wynn, the head of the AIM Institute for Learning and Research, an education consulting organization that provides reading professional development.<\/p>\n

Wynn, a former literacy director at the Mississippi education department, worked with Mississippi\u2019s math team, when it launched coaching for teachers in the subject. They used the same framework that Mississippi created to overhaul its approach to literacy instruction, focusing on sustained support for teachers. For instance, Wynn said, the state created an instructional observation protocol that math coaches could use, similar to the one reading coaches worked with.<\/p>\n

In Louisiana, Act 260, passed in 2023, requires all 4th-8th grade math teachers to complete a state-created training in numeracy by August 2025. These grade levels represent a pivotal time, said Jamie Hebert, the executive director of numeracy at the Louisiana Department of Education.<\/p>\n

\u201cMathematics takes a big jump from 5th grade going into middle school,\u201d Hebert said. \u201cWhat they\u2019ve been learning in a concrete way, really translates to some more abstract prealgebra concepts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Between the pandemic and other more regular interruptions to schooling, like weather events and natural disasters, many students have gaps in their prior knowledge, said Hebert. The training\u2019s focus on math\u2019s vertical progression through the grades is designed to help teachers identify and shore up that missing knowledge, she said. It\u2019s also meant to serve as a primer for educators coming in through alternative-certification programs, she added, who haven\u2019t been through a traditional math teacher-preparation course.<\/p>\n

The material is curriculum-agnostic, so it doesn\u2019t map to any one textbook series or resource. That\u2019s a \u201cshift\u201d for a state that has long prioritized the adoption of high-quality instructional materials, and designed professional learning around them, Hebert said. Instead, she said, educators are meant to learn teaching moves and instructional principles that can apply regardless of what materials they\u2019re using.<\/p>\n

For example, in a portion of the training for 7th grade math focused on strategies for multiplying and dividing rational numbers, teachers analyze word problems that offer multiple entry points for students at different skill levels, evaluating them against a series of criteria: Do they require students to justify their thinking? Show multiple representations of math ideas? Allow students to look for patterns and make generalizations? Teachers practice writing their own problems that meet these goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state really expressed the importance of teachers understanding the why behind the math, and not just the how,\u201d said Shelly LeDoux, the director of professional learning and implementation at the University of Texas at Austin\u2019s Charles A. Dana Center, which worked with the department to create the mandated training and accompanying optional offerings for other grade levels.<\/p>\n

Should PD emphasize conceptual understanding or procedural fluency?<\/h2>\n

The goal is that, by the end of the training, teachers have \u201cdeepened their own understanding of math,\u201d having built a strong base of conceptual knowledge, one that they can then help construct for their students, said LeDoux.<\/p>\n

But some teachers felt that the training put too much emphasis on a theoretical understanding of math principles\u2014a choice, they said, that could end up confusing students who are already struggling.<\/p>\n

The critique gets to the heart of a persistent ideological divide in math instruction. Do students get better at math when teachers attempt to develop children\u2019s conceptual understanding of math ideas, often through inquiry and problem-solving? Or is it more effective to ensure they have a solid grasp on math procedures and improve their fluency?<\/p>\n

Research shows that both skills are necessary<\/a>, and build upon each other. But those in the math education field, from college professors to curriculum publishers, differ on how to balance these priorities, and in what order.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes I feel like we pick it apart too much,\u201d said one veteran 8th grade teacher who went through the training, referring to math concepts, who asked that she not be named because she was not authorized by her district to comment publicly. She recalled one portion of the training on fractions that encouraged teachers to solve a problem four or five different ways.<\/p>\n

Asking teachers to think through those different solutions is important, but breaking down every problem to that extent with students would be overwhelming for most elementary schoolers, she said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important for professional development to address the role of fluency and practice, including explicit instruction in some areas, said Nancy Jordan, a professor of learning sciences at the University of Delaware who studies how children learn math. (Jordan was not involved in creating the Louisiana training.)<\/p>\n

Research suggests how practice should be structured to be most effective, Jordan said. For instance, she said, when students are first learning a skill, they should practice problems that just target that skill, and then move on to problem sets that include the skill alongside others\u2014an approach called interleaved practice.<\/p>\n

Hebert of the Louisiana Department of Education said that the state\u2019s standards balance conceptual understanding with fluency and practical application. The department has created resources for evaluating students\u2019 fluency and intervening when students struggle, she said, but they\u2019re not integrated into this training.<\/p>\n

The state is also developing guidance documents that demonstrate how to apply the principles from the professional learning in state-approved curricula, she added.<\/p>\n

Why one district made time for teacher collaboration<\/h2>\n

Some teachers said the training felt like just one more thing on top of an already full plate\u2014a concern teachers nationwide often have about professional development.<\/a> <\/p>\n

DeAnna Bond, a 6th and 7th grade math teacher in Dodson, La., said the 30 hours she spent on the course all came out of her personal time, after hours. A veteran teacher, she felt she already knew most of the content, and she said her district hasn\u2019t scheduled any time for follow up.<\/p>\n

This left some practical questions unanswered, she said. It might be helpful for newer teachers to learn, for instance, what math skills 6th graders should have when they enter the classroom. But that doesn\u2019t explain what teachers should do if their 6th graders turn up without those skills, she said. \u201cWhere am I going to get the time from to make sure that they know what they should already know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Other districts have tried to address some of these concerns, building time within the school year for teachers to complete the training and talk to each other about how to integrate new ideas into their practice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to bring our people all together to do this collaboratively,\u201d said Wendy Marchand, the supervisor of curriculum and instruction in the Avoyelles Parish schools.<\/p>\n

Avoyelles paid teachers a stipend to come in for six days throughout the 2024-25 school year to complete the training together. Teachers had a chance to talk about where the principles they were learning might fit into the curriculum they used, Marchand said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s where those teaching strategies came to light,\u201d said Anna Brister, a district instructional coach.<\/p>\n

Marchand strongly agrees that teachers need the training, but also that sustained, face-to-face assistance is key to making it stick. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have people who don\u2019t have the content knowledge, especially in rural areas like ours,\u201d she said.\u201cThe only way I think you\u2019re going to get better at what you do is if you have someone doing it with you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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