Learning & Teaching

Janine Turville

Mathematics -Mental Computation - The Whole School Approach

You will be aware that I mentioned in the last newsletter about the whole school approach to teaching mental computation.

As you would also be aware we collect data and monitor each child individual progress in all areas of the curriculum.   One of the data set we draw upon to investigate whole school trends is NAPLAN. In particular, we look very closely at how students’ progress over time which is often referred to as growth.  This measure allows us to ascertain the effectiveness of an approach. Ten years ago, a downward trend was identified in the area of Mathematics . When we looked closely at the student growth from Year 3 to Year 5, for many years our students were experiencing negative growth or well below what was expected.  

Six years ago the school took positive steps to turn around this trend.  We sought help through Catholic Education Melbourne and received support with teacher planning and delivery of the mathematical curriculum.  When this support ceased at the end of 2016 steps were taken to form a Mathematics Team that was lead by our Numeracy leader. The Numeracy leader supported the teachers with planning and delivering a targeted and engaging curriculum. 

On further closer investigation it was discovered that the students were very procedural in their thinking and were unable to think flexibly about number. We needed to build up the students number sense and fluency.  As educators, we were required to explicitly teach numbers strategies.

Over the last 2 ½ years we have been building teacher capacity to implement a mental computation program. We invested money in resourcing to ensure that this would not be a blocker for success. We ensured that it was planned and delivered daily for 10-15 minutes.  

Using the same measure through NAPLAN in the last three years we have had strong positive growth. The latest growth data 2016-2018 indicated  21.72% improvement. This is exceptional growth.  

Why do we think it is working?

Consistency throughout the school - expectations, language, content and pedagogical knowledge 

Games based so very engaging for students

Differentiated

Students are given time to practise and improve their skills

It is strategically planned by the teachers in their teams