Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest is looking for school districts to join the Teaching Fractions Toolkit (TFT) Partnership. TFT offers free research-based professional development and resources to help grade 6 teachers improve students’ abilities to understand and solve problems with fractions, using recommendations in a What Works Clearinghouse practice guide: Developing Effective Fractions Instruction for Kindergarten Through 8th Grade.
What are the benefits of participating in the TFT Partnership?
- Teachers will receive training on using evidence-based practices in fractions instruction to improve student outcomes.
- School and district math leaders will receive resources to facilitate the professional development and support teachers in improving their fractions instruction.
- Schools and districts will receive summaries of the research findings that are specific to their school and district.
Other resources
What are teachers saying about TFT?
“This experience was like a go-to guide for the best ways to teach fractions concepts to 6th graders. Everything in here was valuable and usable.”
“Very well worth it! You will get amazing insight into teaching various math concepts and interactive tools to help your students understand the why behind what they are learning. Highly recommend.”
“The TFT experience deepened my understanding of how I can utilize multiple tools to help students show their understandings.”
More about this opportunity
Grade 6 math teachers in your district will participate in six professional development modules with trained facilitators in 2024/25 or 2025/26. Each module includes the following:
- Two to three hours of synchronous group meetings.
- Two hours of asynchronous learning activities between meetings.
- Classroom resources to use with students, such as math tasks, interactive apps, and formative assessments.
Any public school district can participate if the district meets the following criteria:
- Serves students in grade 6.
- Is in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, or Wisconsin.
- Is not already providing professional development on fractions instruction in grade 6.
Districts and schools will work in partnership with REL Midwest to integrate TFT’s professional development into the district’s or school’s schedule. Districts agree to collaborate with REL Midwest to assess the success of the professional development in improving educator, school leader, and student outcomes through surveys, interviews, classroom observations, student assessments, and administrative data. See the FAQ for more information.
Teachers will receive up to $150 for participating in these data collection activities.
During the two-year period, all schools will receive the toolkit and the implementation support. In spring 2024, REL Midwest will randomly assign which schools will receive the opportunity first. Half of the schools in each district will receive the toolkit and the implementation support in 2024/25; the remaining half will receive the toolkit and the implementation support in 2025/26. The random assignment is important for assessing the impact of the toolkit and it provides a fair way to determine who receives the toolkit first. Participation in the professional development in 2025/26 is optional.
To learn about teachers’ experience with the professional development and to help assess whether the professional development is successful in improving teacher and student outcomes, the study team will collect the following data from all schools in 2024/25:
- Teachers will complete a 20-minute survey in fall 2024 and spring 2025.
- REL Midwest staff will conduct classroom observations (once per teacher) in spring 2025.
- Students will complete a 30-minute assessment of fraction, rates, and ratio problems in spring 2025.
- REL Midwest will conduct interviews with selected teachers and school leaders in spring 2025.
- Participating districts will provide teacher and student demographic data and students’ assessment scores from 2023/24.
- Late spring 2024: Schools will be randomly selected to receive the toolkit professional development in 2024/25 or 2025/26.
- August 2024: Planning for implementation and training for facilitators.
- Fall 2024–spring 2025 (four- to six-month window): Implementation with the first half of schools and evaluation data collection.
- August 2025: Planning for implementation and training for facilitators for the second half of schools (optional).
- Fall 2025–spring 2026 (four- to six-month window): Implementation with the second half of schools (optional).
Additional Information
If your district is interested or if you want to learn more about this opportunity, please contact Jennifer Anthony.