Curriculum Updates - Math

During the Board meeting this week, Jeff Baier provided a couple of updates on the Curriculum.

In the "Normal Update" topic: We've already discussed that the Math Curriculum is being updated this year. The pilots are going well. For those interested in looking at the materials, they are:

Scott Forseman enVision Mathematics
Houghton Mifflin (no link available)

You can also check out the materials in the district office.

One big benefit of the new math curriculum is that both texts support letting students work at their own pace foe each unit. If a child is "at grade level" for multiplication, they can do the exercises for "at level" students. However, if they are more adept at geometry, they can take on the more challenging geometry exercises.

The one concern raised about this concept of having three streams in a single classroom is that we'll need to make sure the teachers are pushing the kids and teaching across all three levels. The texts are designed with a single set of instructional materials, but different exercises. The parent who spoke up (not me) was concerned that the teachers might not push the kids to attempt the harder materials. This is definitely something we have discussed at the District Curriculum Council. We'll see how the feedback comes in from the 30+ pilot classrooms we're running.