From worksheets to wonder: WashU’s Math314 supports teachers, boosts scores
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There is a name for the sort of math instruction Alexander Terrance got as a kid: Drill and kill.
“There was a lot of rote memorization, a lot of formulas, a lot of worksheets,” recalled Terrance, now the principal of Hoech Middle School in the Ritenour School District. “That was fine for some, but a lot of students grew up hating math. We didn’t think we were any good at it and we couldn’t see how this math stuff was going to matter in our lives.”
Terrance wanted better for his students. So he was eager to join Math314, WashU’s innovative program to boost math instruction and student achievement. For the past three years, instructional specialists from WashU’s Institute for School Partnership have partnered with Ritenour math teachers to develop better lessons and assessments. The results are promising. The percentage of middle school students in the district who score proficient or advanced in math has improved from 16% in 2021, the first year that Ritenour fully participated in Math314, to 24% in 2024. That represents a growth rate of 50%; the state average is 18%.