Andre Aina’s Testimony to the DC State Board of Education on Statewide Math Education and AI Integration
Andre Aina, CEO
Third Eye Education Analytics
Testimony to the DC State Board of Education on Statewide Math Education and AI Integration
Good afternoon, distinguished members of the DC State Board of Education. I’m Andre Aina, CEO of Third Eye Education Analytics. I’m here today, in collaboration with Education Reform Now Advocacy DC (ERNA DC), to speak to you about our commitment to improving student achievement in math education and the responsible use of AI to support our teachers and students.
Third Eye Education Analytics uses modern data analytics to provide schools and educators with effective tools for tracking and supporting student achievement. I personally have a decade of direct experience working with students in mathematics education across many domains—special education, general education, and Response to Intervention (RTI). I am committed to improving DC students’ learning experiences.
Through our collaboration, ERNA DC and Third Eye have underscored several key insights that have helped shape this testimony, highlighting the imperative to enhance our approach to math education.
A statewide approach to improving literacy in DC has shown much promise, but we have yet to implement a systematic statewide plan for PreK-8 mathematics.
Federal education money from the epidemic (also known as the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant) that supported High-Impact Tutoring and other evidence-based programs is nearing an end; therefore, we must implement effective solutions to continue supporting students.
There is a noticeable dip in math achievement among students in DC. Last year, 78% of DC public school students did not meet expectations in math. This isn’t just about missed lessons; it’s a red flag for their future.
As the temporary financial aid from the pandemic begins to fade, establishing a Mathematics Support Fund is imperative to ensuring our strides in math education are sustained for generations to come.
This situation calls for an innovative, tech-driven strategy to rejuvenate math learning, making it not only more engaging but also tailored to meet every student’s individual needs.
A Statewide Math Strategy
A statewide strategy begins with forming a Mathematics Innovation and Research Task Force to oversee improvements in math education. It could then consist of these five components: daily math instruction with high-quality content and instructional materials; teacher assistance; evaluations and parental communication; interventions; and services for families and caregivers.
This starts with creating a comprehensive district-wide pre-K through 8th-grade mathematics strategy. This strategy provides teachers with support, resources, and professional development in mathematics. We should implement screeners and assessments paired with parental notifications that communicate students’ progress in mathematics to their families.
Develop and deploy interventions for students who are struggling with math, and generate resources for families and caregivers to support math learning at home. Create a Mathematics Support Fund to administer grants for math education enhancement.
Third Eye Pilot Program
During Third Eye Education’s pilot program this past summer, we partnered with a non-profit organization to provide their summer enrichment program with our digital learning services. While maintaining data privacy, we used AI to analyze a student’s past performance with current math and reading diagnostics. This helped us create personalized learning paths in reading and mathematics.
AI was a major help when it came to differentiating the content that we produced for students. Once our instructional designer and I created the content for a specific common core reading or math standard, we were able to produce more versions of this content at different levels with the use of AI. This helps us tailor instruction to the right access point, which is also known as the zone of proximal development.
We have also used AI to analyze a vast amount of curriculum information and assessment data to provide us with insights into trends across groups of students and individual student needs, helping them to tailor their instruction more effectively. It also assists in automating specific administrative tasks, like producing progress reports for families based on student metrics. In the classroom setting, AI could allow a teacher more time to focus on teaching.
A Statewide AI Strategy
We believe that the district should create an AI Task Force to craft strategies for effectively incorporating AI as a learning tool and subject of study.
The findings of this task force can help schools comprehensively prepare to fully leverage AI’s potential while safeguarding against its associated risks and ethical implications. This preparation involves several key measures:
Educational Policy and Framework Development: Establishing clear guidelines and policies that dictate the ethical use of AI in educational contexts and ensuring that AI tools are used to complement rather than replace the human elements of teaching and learning.
Teacher Training and Professional Development: Equipping educators with the necessary skills and knowledge to effectively integrate AI tools into their teaching practices. Teachers should be prepared to teach students about the ethical use of AI, including understanding the limitations of AI-generated content and the importance of academic integrity.
Collaborative Research and Development: Creation of an encouraging collaboration between educators, AI researchers, and technology developers to create AI solutions that are pedagogically sound and aligned with educational goals. This collaborative approach can lead to the development of AI tools that are not only technologically advanced but also deeply rooted in educational best practices.
Closing
In closing, I implore you to support our call to action—a call to not only mend the gaps created by the pandemic but to leap forward into a future where every student is equipped to thrive in a global marketplace.
Thank you for the privilege of presenting this testimony. I stand ready, alongside ERNA DC and the broader education community, to support this monumental shift towards a brighter, more equitable future for our students.
