Joanna Burt-Kinderman, an instructional coach in the Pocahontas County, W. Va., school district, empowers math teachers and students to be collaborative and creative problem-solvers, leading to some of the state’s stop math performance in the middle and high school grades. In math classes, students wrestle with tough problems together and persist in reasoning them through. And in a district that has struggled to retain math teachers in the past, teachers now say they feel professional ownership of their subject. “There are huge pipeline problems in West Virginia. Right now, there are around 40 percent of classes in grades 7 through 11 are taught by uncertified or under-certified people,” Burt-Kinderman says. “So you have to wonder in that setting, are you really providing a free and equal education to everybody… if some people are expected to learn mathematics from someone else who doesn’t necessarily know mathematics?” This video was produced as part of Education Week’s Leaders To Learn From project, recognizing outstanding school district leaders from around the country. Read more at https://leaders.edweek.org.
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