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Responsive Math Teaching (RMT) is an NSF-funded research project focused on improving mathematics instruction in a network of elementary schools through a research-practice partnership between Penn GSE and the School District of Philadelphia. The RMT project is built around five core components:
- Developing a shared understanding of high-quality math instruction
- Ongoing professional development
- Support for classroom implementation
- Leadership development for sustainability
- Ongoing research for continual improvement
What is Responsive Math Teaching?
Responsive math teaching (RMT) is instruction where the teacher continuously elicits information about what students currently know and understand and responds in ways that move them forward in relation to developmental and grade-level mathematical goals. This occurs throughout the instructional cycle, which includes:
- Selecting and launching cognitively demanding tasks that are open to multiple entry points and solution strategies;
- Engaging students in productive struggle, discourse, and collaboration;
- Having students share strategies and defend their solutions;
- Building connections and deeper and more sophisticated understanding of core concepts, strategies, and procedures;
- Collecting formative assessment information to inform instruction.
Recognizing what students know and are able to do and leveraging that to move towards higher level reasoning and problem solving ensures equity and access to mathematics for all students. When the teacher responds simultaneously to student thinking and a mathematical goal, each and every student is recognized as a capable learner who can develop deep, meaningful, and flexible understandings.
Professional Development
The professional development program begins with the Experience year in which participants experience RMT as learners to reflect on and develop new teaching practices. In the second year, participants practice and refine responsive teaching skills while engaging in cross-school lesson design cycles. Finally, in year three, participants develop their leadership skills, learning how to support other teachers to adopt and refine Responsive Mathematics Teaching practices.
Cross-School Collaborative Lesson Design
Teachers with one or more years of RMT experience participate in Collaborative Lesson Design cycles with teachers from across the network working at the same grade level. In these cross-school planning teams, teachers and leaders engage in planning, enacting, and debriefing RMT lessons. The goal of Collaborative Lesson Design is for teachers to improve their ability to plan and enact responsive math lessons.
Partners
We are partnering with elementary schools in Learning Network 2 of the School District of Philadelphia to provide school-based support for mathematics instructional leadership, strategic planning, and professional development.
Team & Contact
For inquiries and general information:
RMTproject@gse.upenn.edu
Principal Investigator
Caroline B. Ebby
cbe@upenn.edu
Co-Principal Investigator
Caroline Watts
wattsca@upenn.edu
Brittany Hess
brhess@gse.upenn.edu
Jennifer Valerio
valerioj@upenn.edu
Joy Anderson Davis
joyous@upenn.edu
Lindsay Goldsmith-Markey
litho@gse.upenn.edu
Lizzy Pecora
lpecora@upenn.edu
This project is funded by the National Science Foundation (DRK12 1813048)