The District Math Committee Report: The Short and Long of It (BOE Meeting, 4/23/2007)

The Short Story

A presentation was made by the Math Committee of their recommendations for math, including K-8 and 9-12 Regents changes. Administration, teachers and parent members on the committee participated in the discussion.

The meeting was held in the comfortable Mattlin auditorium with the backdrop of the scenery of the upcoming Fame musical. News 12 was there for part of the time and everyone was dressed for success. An interested audience including parents, teachers, building principals, PTA presidents, teacher union representatives and other concerned citizens settled in for a 4 hour meeting comprised of the Math Committee report, question and answers from the BOE and public participation.

Main Recommendations

• September 2007 will bring newly written curriculum including an emphasis on math facts and recognizable algorithms. Test prep and supplemental materials will be chosen prior to the start of the new school year and implemented district-wide.
• From May 2007 forward various math programs will be considered and piloted by teachers and by January 2008 a new math program will be chosen to be implemented in March 2008.

The BOE did not vote as yet to adapt these recommendations. They asked specific questions regarding implementation and accountability.

Success for the Petition Signers?

Yes. Absolutely! Math has and will continue to be scrutinized, changes have been put into place and strong recommendations for a solid future of excellence in math instruction have been made. That the timing didn’t allow for a September start for a complete new program is disappointing, however, this is not a decision that should be rushed. The right thing is happening for the kids as efforts in math have been intensified district-wide.

Clearly almost 1000 signatures on the math petition have moved the district to begin to change. Clear too is that we have been able to work directly with the teachers to bring about the changes we both seek. With parents and teachers working together we can make other improvements in our district. We need to be about more than math.

Other News

• Dr. Brooks’ retirement (by mutual decision) at the end of June was announced at the Wednesday, April 18 BOE meeting.
• Remember to register to vote in the upcoming BOE election. Registration will be held on Tuesday May 8th from 12:00 to 9:00 p.m. at Jamaica Ave, Old Bethpage and POB Middle School. This includes people who have never registered to vote and people who registered elsewhere but have never voted in Plainview.
• The latest edition of the Teacher’s Union PCT Pledge (April 23, 2007) reports that the PCT Math Committee met with the BOE last week. They presented their approach which focuses not so much on a particular program but how to improve the math education of the children and was well-received by members of the BOE.

The Long Story

The Math Committee was charged as follows:

• Make recommendations to improve our comprehensive math program based upon examination of students’ test performance data and input from staff and parents.
• Make recommendation regarding transition to Integrated Algebra, Geometry, and Algebra II/Trigonometry course sequence at the high school.

(Although Integrated Algebra was reported and discussed at the March 12 BOE meeting and bits and pieces of the high school changes were additionally mentioned on April 23, this document will focus primarily on elementary and middle school math.)

Parent Representatives Spoke of Their Concerns

Parents feel that the district needs to:

• Provide the most effective programs and materials that align with revised NYS standards
• Teach basic math facts and algorithms
• Guarantee consistent implementation of teaching methods, approach, support materials and assessment
• Help students meet and exceed mastery levels through differentiated instruction
• Establish effective home-school communication through clear goals, assessments available to parents, and family-friendly homework
• Create a detailed plan of administrative accountability
• Fill in gaps for students already in the system and already behind
• Ensure that all students who need extra help get it
• Provide adequate instructional time for elementary school students in the middle schools
• Establish clear responsibility for updating curriculum maps and keeping them current
• Address the unusually low performance of special education students
• Provide enrichment for gifted learners
• Evaluate the possibility of regrouping students
• Provide earlier intervention (grades K-2) in elementary school
• Provide more AIS (Academic Intervention Support) to ALL students who need it in the middle school

What the Math Committee Did

• Committee members analyzed test data and made recommendations to staff regarding specific test items from the 2006 NYS math exams that needed to be carefully reviewed this year
  • Content areas
  • Vocabulary
  • Test-taking strategies
• The information compiled was disseminated to staff ? central office, building principals and math specialists
• Reviewed and are piloting two intervention programs to meet the needs of math challenged learners in special education and/or AIS programs
  • Knowing Math ? intensive 14 week daily intervention program to develop number sense and operations
  • FASTT Math ? computational fluency with number facts offered to special education students
• Reviewed/Piloted curriculum program materials
  • Current and revised Investigations Program (K-5)
  • Various integrated algebra texts
  • Test-review materials
  • Intervention programs and materials
  • Adaptive technology and math websites
• Held faculty and grade level meetings in March
• Held parent math nights

What the teachers had to say as reported by the math committee

Feedback from March faculty and grade level meetings

• K-8 staff recommend a consistent, well-balanced approach that includes traditional supplemental student materials, homework books, enrichment materials and test preparation materials.
• No strong consensus among staff ? divided among continuing with the current program, using the updated version and requesting examining other programs
• Use of technology to help students practice basic math facts

Other Items Discussed

• Parent Information Brochure by grade of math topics
• Potential pod casts available of math lessons
• Math support web-site for students, parents and teachers
• Sample assessment for 5th grade algebra unit
• Sample differentiated instruction worksheet from 5th grade algebra unit
• Breakage money in the budget to provide for a 1st/2nd grade math support person

Recommendations of the Math Committee

Divided into three categories:

Curriculum Program Materials and Documentation

• K-8 staff do a supplemental materials review process to make recommendations for system-wide adoption of student practice, enrichment, homework and test review books. Time Frame: May 2007 - June 2007; Implementation: September 2007
• K-8 staff do a program review and piloting process of newly published NYS aligned math programs, including textbooks where recommended. Time Frame: May 2007 - January 2008; Implementation: Post-March 2008
• Curriculum writing
  • Revised pacing calendars with spiral review of key concepts and computational algorithms
  • Provide common resources for additional units of study (e.g., specific content units and memorization of basic facts)
  • Clear introduction and review of essential NYS vocabulary ? include specific vocabulary for each individual teaching unit
  • Informational brochures for parents
  • Scope and sequence for Integrated Algebra (to be done on maps)
  • Integrating math into other subject areas including specials

Teaching Strategies

• Examining current schedules and team structures in grades 5-6 to provide more time for math instruction
• Seeking ways to effective differentiate instruction for all learners and examine various grouping options
• Putting procedures into place for implementing timely AIS support for identified students and communicating schedules and progress to parents
• Scheduling more opportunities for intra and inter-grade level sharing of best practices
• Providing on-going professional development to keep staff abreast of effective instructional strategies

Strengthen Home-School Connections Communications with Families

• Distribute more frequent parent informational brochures listing time frame for specific math topics being studied in classrooms
• Send home students’ unit assessments for parent signatures
• Share students’ math benchmarks with parents during parent/teacher conferences
• Further enhance parent information section of district website
• Enhance partnership between home and school for student progress

BOE Questions/Comments

• Is the committee recommending purchasing the next version of TERC? Committee members answered that they are not. They are recommending a blended curriculum that will include the current Investigations materials and traditional math supplements. This curriculum will be made available to parents in the form of a handout. For this fall all teachers across each grade will be given a binder of supplemental materials to use to augment the wide range of gaps in the current program.
• The proposed parental curriculum handout was compared to the clearly worded and defined curriculum given to Syosset parents. Why is ours so fuzzy?
• The gap analysis seemed incomplete.
• How will consistency be ensured throughout the district? The same tools will be given out to everyone, staff development.
• Who are held accountable for the math program and how does that come back to the BOE? Faculty implements the set curriculum. Building principals look at what is happening grade by grade. Math department chair and assistant superintendent of curriculum have clear plans and makes sure that everyone has what they were told they would have.
• Specific questions for first graders: are inches and real measurement introduced in first grade and fluency in subtraction to what number? Answers no and 10, respectfully.
• Questions were asked about the Connected Math program being used in grades 6-8. The Math Committee found that similar to TERC, we should not be investing any additional money into Connected Math.

Public participation wrapped up around midnight.

• Speakers thanked the Math Committee for the work done.
• Continued usage of Investigations was likened to an approach with the philosophy of "every child left behind."
• Parents spoke to their concerns about how the recommendations would be implemented and accountability be held.
• Accountability was placed on teachers, principals, the math chairperson, the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction and the superintendent.
• PCT president Morty Rosenfeld disagreed with the committee’s statement that there was no consensus among teachers. He also took umbrage to the suggestion that the problems with the math program are the result of teachers’ resistance to a program that has proven to have many gaps.

From the Sidelines

The long term picture of a thoughtful and widespread teacher-driven selection of a new math text is a very positive one and a far cry from the original course our district was on of being wedded to Investigations and making a bad marriage work by filling in gaps. Starting off the year without shiny new textbooks and continued use of the controversial Investigations program as the basis of our math curriculum has many parents worried that their children will continue to fall behind and miss crucial topics.

It must be remembered that the curriculum will be written prior to September and basic math facts and traditional, recognizable algorithms are going to be stressed. Teachers will have the supplemental materials including test prep to help our chidren succeed. Some aspects of the presentation were strikingly familiar to those who may have attended a parent math night or two. While recommendations are good and descriptive of needs, concrete plans of action and timelines for solving known problems such as the 5th grade we-have-41-minutes-but-need-an-hour-to-teach-math-dilemma disappointingly have not yet been determined (that one is being passed on to the Middle School Committee).

Questions and Observations

• It was mentioned that teachers will receive a binder of the new aligned, paced, spiraled and scaffolded curriculum. How does this ensure consistency?
• By not purchasing Investigations Second Edition, the Math Committee is agreeing with the recommendation of the PCT.
• What exactly are considered to be supplemental materials?
• What would necessitate hiring early grade math help? Other high performance districts start this in kindergarten as part of their support services and why even think about this in a $110 million + budget when expenses like Geese Peace ($12K) were eagerly and quickly agreed to?
• Some students have not received AIS services they should have. How will services be monitored to ensure that no child is forgotten or issues crop up that render the system ineffective?
• How to turn weak 3s into solid 3s, 3s into 4s, etc.
• The district’s attorney spoke of math grouping as a liability. It seems that other instances of grouping are currently in progress in the district so why would introducing math grouping create such concern?
• Can’t anything be done to extrapolate how this year’s tests scores will fall?
• Beyond Knowing Math and FASTT Math, how are special education concerns being addressed?
• Will FASTT Math be available for the general student for practice?
• The math chairperson has both written and stated in public forums that traditional math does not work. This position is high in the food chain of accountability for the math success of our district. Will these opposing views affect the progress and achievements of a blended curriculum that seems to be heading in a direction of employing more traditional approaches?