From 46% to 73% Proficiency: Building a Culture of Mathematical Thinking at Hebrew Public – Hebrew Language Academy

A Case Study in Sustained Partnership and Leadership Development

By Hendy Avenue Consulting

The Challenge

When Hebrew Public’s new Chief Schools Officer reached out to Hendy Avenue Consulting nearly seven years ago, the network was ready to transform its mathematics program. They weren’t just looking for curriculum recommendations or professional development sessions. They needed a partner who could help them fundamentally shift how their schools approached math instruction – from procedures and algorithms to deep understanding and critical thinking.

Changing math mindsets and instructional practices requires more than content knowledge. It demands leadership development, strategic thinking, and sustained support to build capacity at every level of the organization.

The Partnership Approach

What began as a math program evaluation evolved into a comprehensive, multi-year partnership spanning talent strategy, leadership development, and instructional improvement. This case study focuses on one powerful example of that work: Hendy’s coaching relationship with Daniella Steinberg, Head of School at Hebrew Language Academy (HLA).

Building on Strengths

When Hendy consultant Jeremy Abarno began working with Daniella more than five years ago, Daniella had already been a teacher and instructional leader at HLA for many years and brought critical leadership strengths to the role: her decision-making was always student centered, she had a strong eye for quality instruction, a keen ability to consider multiple perspectives, and a balanced approach to communication – kind and direct.

The initial work with Daniella was around clarifying her vision, strategic planning, goal setting, and developing content-based strategies to drive teacher development and student results.

The Coaching Process

Jeremy’s coaching approach centered on three interconnected elements:

1. Clarifying Vision and Strategy They used a theory of action to articulate goals and the strategy to achieve them. This framework became the north star for all decisions about curriculum, professional development, and resource allocation.

2. Making Ideas Actionable Coaching sessions weren’t just about reflection – they were about doing. Jeremy and Daniella worked together on strategic planning, turning ideas into concrete implementation plans with clear measures of success.

3. Building Accountability Systems They established rhythms for measuring progress and adjusting when necessary, ensuring that strategy didn’t just exist on paper but lived in daily practice.

As Jeremy describes it: “Our coaching process was based around goal setting, honest conversations about growth areas and aspirations as well as lots of doing – doing the strategic planning together, helping her articulate and make her ideas actionable and then partnering with her to ensure that she had an implementation plan.”

The Frameworks and Tools: Several key frameworks and protocols drove the work at HLA:

Theory of Action: A clear articulation of goals and the strategy to achieve them, ensuring all stakeholders understood not just what they were doing but why.

Consistent Data Review: Both short and long cycle results allowed the team to study their rate of improvement and make strategic adjustments. This data-driven approach kept the team focused on outcomes rather than falling in love with inputs.

Content-Based Protocols: Intellectual preparation and planning protocols ensured instruction remained at a rigorous level, with teachers deepening their understanding of grade-level concepts and the connections across grade levels.

Walkthrough Protocols with the Hendy Instructional Excellence Rubric: These protocols engaged Daniella’s leadership team in calibrating their observations and then engaging teachers in cycles that balanced support and accountability.

Practicing Crucial Conversations: Repeatedly rehearsing and refining the conversations needed to help people grow – because leadership development isn’t just about knowing what to say, it’s about being able to say it effectively.

According to Jeremy, “The main ingredients that made this approach successful were humility, investment in growth, and a willingness to let the data and outcomes tell us how we were doing rather than falling in love with our inputs.”

The Three Fundamental Shifts

Over the course of the partnership, three key transformations emerged in mathematics instruction at HLA:

1. What Was Valued Changed

From: Valuing correct answers
To: Valuing proof of understanding

This shift was driven by changing assessments and curriculum to focus on critical thinking and problem-solving that required proof and connection-making. Students needed to demonstrate not just that they could arrive at an answer, but that they understood why it worked.

2. Teacher Training and Coaching Evolved

From: Focusing primarily on content delivery
To: Emphasizing thinking for both teachers and students

Teachers engaged in intellectual preparation sessions where they deepened their understanding of grade-level math concepts as well as preceding and following grade levels. This allowed them to understand what foundational knowledge students needed and what connections students could make to future learning.

Student thinking became centered in two ways: teachers anticipated how students might solve problems, and they reviewed student work to understand what students were demonstrating and what they still needed to learn.

3. Student Investment and Engagement Transformed

From: Students as passive recipients of procedures
To: Students as active mathematical thinkers

Students became eager to share their thinking with the class – presenting strategies, defending their thinking, and even critiquing their classmates’ reasoning. Students knew their ideas were valued and that they could learn from each other.

The Results

The numbers tell a powerful story:

• School Year 2021-22: 46% of students in grades 3-8 achieved proficiency on the NYS math exam
• School Year 2023-24: 73% of students achieved proficiency. That’s a 27 percentage point gain – representing hundreds of students who are now on track to meet college and career readiness standards in mathematics.

But the quantitative data only captures part of the impact. The qualitative transformation is equally significant:

• Teachers who now approach math instruction with deeper understanding and confidence
• Students who see themselves as mathematical thinkers, not just answer-generators
• A school culture that values critical thinking across all subjects, not just math
• Leaders equipped with the tools and frameworks to sustain and continue this improvement

HLA has gone from having about 4 out of every 10 students being on track to meet college and career readiness standards to having 7 out of 10 students on track – and they’re not stopping there.

The Most Significant Transformation

While the math gains are impressive, Jeremy identifies something even more important: “The most significant transformation is the connections that leaders and teachers at HLA have made across the curriculum. Comprehension and critical thinking isn’t just a math skill – it is something that the school strives for in every subject.”

This is the power of deep, sustained partnership. What began as mathematics improvement evolved into a fundamental shift in how the school approaches teaching and learning across all content areas.

The Hendy Difference: What Made This Partnership Work Over Nearly Seven Years?

Contextual Expertise Over Generic Solutions

This isn’t consulting where you deliver a manual and move on. It’s partnership where you understand the specific people, culture, and challenges of an organization and adapt proven approaches to fit their reality. “Matching, or meeting folks where they are is just as important as expertise,” Jeremy emphasizes. “You build capacity by understanding context, investing in and clarifying the leader’s goals, and supporting their attainment of those goals.”

This principle shaped every coaching conversation, every framework implementation, and every strategic decision throughout the partnership.

What’s Next

Over 5 years in, and the partnership between Hendy Avenue Consulting and Hebrew Public Charter Schools as a network continues. The work has expanded beyond mathematics at one campus to encompass talent strategy and leadership development across the network.

The foundation built at HLA  – the frameworks, the mindsets, the culture of critical thinking – continues to drive results. The HLA team is equipped with the tools, the experience, and the track record to continue pushing toward even more ambitious goals.

And throughout that building, students are defending their mathematical reasoning, critiquing each other’s strategies, and discovering that they are mathematical thinkers capable of solving complex problems.

That’s the real measure of success.