ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Most of the nation's fourth graders are falling behind in math. That's according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often called the Nation's Report Card. It found that just 39% of fourth graders are proficient in math. That used to be the case at one school in rural Wisconsin. Winskill Elementary changed its approach to teaching math several years ago, and now nearly 80% of students there are at or above grade level. Corrinne Hess from Wisconsin Public Radio visited the school to learn how it turned those numbers around.
MISSY SPERLE: Does everybody know what a budget is?
CORRINNE HESS, BYLINE: It's a Tuesday morning, and fifth grade teacher Missy Sperle greets her students with a math problem.
SPERLE: Logan, what's a budget?
HESS: In this hypothetical scenario, teachers at the school went shopping and had lunch. The students need to figure out if the teachers stuck to their $60 budget.
SPERLE: Keep in mind, like, Mrs. Sperle bought four bottles of hand lotion for $3.78. So think about how you would figure out that total.
HESS: This word problem focuses on something students have been working on - decimals.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: So that'd be a five?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: What?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: Right?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: No.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: 'Cause seven plus seven is 14. Fourteen plus one is 15.
HESS: Gone are the days of sitting in rows and working on math worksheets. Groups of kids gather around whiteboards taller than them.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: So I went over by 5.92.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #4: And we didn't even add on the lunch.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: Oh, you haven't even added the lunch yet?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #4: No.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: Man...
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #5: No, we're going to do that last.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: ...I did not do very good. I'm not shocked.
HESS: Sperle was not teaching this way a decade ago. She was teaching how she was taught, and she says she felt like she was failing her kids.
SPERLE: And then as I started learning more, I started realizing how there's just better ways of doing things.
HESS: When Principal Brad Sturmer arrived at the school nearly a decade ago, fewer than 50% of the students were proficient in math. That's close to the national average.
BRAD STURMER: The research will tell you that kids that struggle at mathematics after third grade are likely going to struggle in mathematics for the long haul.
HESS: So he changed the way the school taught math, and the scores began rising. Now nearly 80% of the students at Winskill are either advanced or meeting expectations in math, according to state data. The secret to this? It's surprisingly simple.
STURMER: Comes down to teaching the why behind mathematics, how things work, not just teaching tricks. That's a big mistake that people make.
HESS: No tricks, no memorizing formulas or multiplication tables. The students are shown how math works. They cut up a pizza to understand fractions or use a budget to understand decimals. It may take longer, but the students understand it better. Sturmer's a former math teacher, and he says this approach could work anywhere.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #6: Are you guys on this (inaudible)?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #7: Yeah. But we're not done with her yet.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #6: I got 68 and 8 cents.
HESS: In Missy Sperle's class, the whiteboards, the collaboration, getting the kids moving, this is all a way to engage kids with math.
SPERLE: I do a lot of collaboration. The kids - I don't do a lot of talking in my math class just because the kids learn so well from each other.
Are you ready to check or do you want to check with each other?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #8: Check with each other.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #9: Yeah.
SPERLE: Because I'm not giving you clues.
HESS: And it's not just Sperle's classroom. All of the Winskill math teachers are on the same page about explaining the why and the how of math. And their lessons build on each other from grade to grade. By the time the children get to Missy Sperle's class, they can figure out a budget.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #10: She went over by 33 cents.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Oh, really?
HESS: Now Sperle is a master at her craft. Last year, she was 1 of 6 Wisconsin finalists for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.
For NPR News in Lancaster, Wisconsin, this is Corrinne Hess. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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