Rationale

My school has seen an increase in the number of students who are not yet meeting grade level expectations for numeracy on both the District Numeracy Assessment in grade 3 and the Foundation Skills Assessment in grade 4. Over all our percentage of students who are fully meeting or exceeding expectations is inconsistent. There is also a large degree of inconsistency between the two assessments which makes me question the validity of the tests as the District Numeracy Assessment is given in May / June of the grade three year and the FSA is completed in the fall of grade four typically with less than six months between assessing the same group of students.

Based on classroom assessment and observations I believe that the problem lies in students number sense skills. Number sense is complex and multifaceted involving understanding of:

• Counting
• Subitizing
• Base ten numeration
• Different types of numbers
  • Whole numbers
  • Ordinal numbers
  • Zero
  • Fractions
  • Decimals
  • Positive and negative integers
  • Rational numbers
  • Irrational numbers
• Place value
• Number relationships
  • Composition
  • Decomposition
  • Ratios
  • Rates
  • Percentages
  • Number lines
  • Comparing numbers
  • Ordering numbers

I think our problem is two fold, first we do not have common language and assessments to look at number sense as a stand alone math strand, second we do not have a common tool to support number sense development. Before we can plan for number sense development and growth we need to determine our starting point and develop a common assessment and common language to communicate about number sense.

Initial data

Grade 3 District Numeracy Assessment Results

	Number assessed	Not yet meeting expectations	Minimally meeting expectations	Fully meeting expectations	Exceeding expectations	Percentage fully meeting or exceeding
May 2016	85	0	12	55	18	85.9%
May 2017	75	8	19	38	10	65.3%
June 2018	85	0	17	46	22	80%
June 2019	80	1	14	57	8	81.3%
June 2020	No data collected
June 2021	84	2	26	40	16	66.7%
June 2022	84	0	8	37	39	90.5%

(Carlyle & Paton, 2023)

Grade 4 Foundation Skills Assessment Numeracy Results

	Number assessed	Unknown	Not yet meeting expectations	Minimally meeting expectations	Fully meeting expectations (on track)	Exceeding expectations	Percentage fully meeting or exceeding
March 2016	90	11	19	29	23	8	39%
March 2017	88	13	8	19	38	10	64%
Oct 2018	87	3	9	42	29	4	39%
Oct 2019	90	6	10	19	34	15	58%
2020/2021	86	5	15	27	33	6	45%
2021/2022	78		22		52	54	72%

(Carlyle & Paton, 2023)

Inquiry Question:

1. How can a common assessment targeting number sense be developed and implemented across all grade levels to effectively improve student’s number sense?
   1. What skills to students need to master to have number sense?
   2. What tools do educators need to accurately assess number sense?
   3. What professional development do educators need to assess student’s number sense?
   4. How can we develop common language around number sense to communicate student progress and competency?
   5. Can we monitor progress across grade levels and over a student’s k-5 years?

Follow up questions:

1. What strategies can be put in place in classrooms to support number sense development?
2. What school wide efforts can be made to support number sense development?
3. How will we support students who demonstrate weak number sense skills?
4. How can families be involved in supporting numbers sense development?

Reflection

While I am passionate about improving student number sense skills and overall numeracy, I am unsure if I will get buy in from the other teachers at my school. My team tends to put much of their effort into literacy often to the exclusion of all other areas, in my six years at the school we have not had a single outside presentation on numeracy while we have 2-3 professional development days dedicated to literacy and social emotional learning. Improving our number sense and by extension numeracy will require a culture shift.  To develop an assessment tool it must be something that is easy to implement and yields data that requires little interpretation to be useful. A project on this scale will only be effective if there is consistent buy in and support from school administrators.  

References

Carlyle, M., & Paton, D. (2023, September). Langley Fundamental Elementary School School Improvement Plan 2023-2024. Langley, BC: Langley School District (SD35).