Elementary Math
The School Board unanimously adopted
Everyday Math for elementary schools at their June 27 meeting.
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On June 13th, the School Board held a work study session on the Elementary Math Adoption process and is planning to take action at their June 27 meeting.
The two-year-long Elementary Math Adoption process involved the Teacher Work Group, the greater teacher community, parents and community members, and the school board.
Work-study session materials:
If you have questions, send an e-mail to
elementarymath@issaquah.wednet.edu or call District Math Specialist Leslie Nielsen at (425) 837-7051.
BACKGROUND
Much has been learned about brain research and how children learn since the District adopted Math Trailblazers in 1998. While Trailblazers was the very best mathematics instructional program at that time, now—eight years later—it is time to research and review new materials and to determine the highest quality program for our elementary students.
The process
The process began in the fall of 2005 when a group of teachers completed an in-depth study of the research on best practices in mathematics education, the Washington State Mathematics Grade Level Expectations, the WASL Test Item specifications, and District data. The work group created a draft Scope and Sequence, a list of mathematical vocabulary, and a Computational Proficiency Expectation guideline. These served as the foundation for the instructional materials process which is occurring this year.
Teacher Work Group recommended Everyday Math to move forward
After considering a thorough analysis by secondary math teachers, data on the instructional materials used by highest performing districts, and studies of program effectiveness provided by Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, the Math Adoption Teacher Work Group recommended moving
Everyday Math forward for in-depth study.
Secondary math teachers assessed how well each finalist program would prepare students for success in Issaquah's secondary math courses. They found that
Everyday Math prepares students for success in higher level mathematics and aligns with our secondary programs at the 99% level. The other finalist programs aligned at significantly lower levels - 80% and 47%.
We revised the process and moved forward to a more in-depth study—in partnership with Northwest Educational Laboratory—that will provide opportunities for parents and teachers to examine and interact with the materials. This study phase included a meeting where parents in small groups had the opportunity to experience an
Everyday Math lesson, learn how computational fluency is developed, and review parent resource materials. Parents were also invited to three math materials open house events in April.
More information and resources
Questions? Send an e-mail to
Elementary Math or call District Math Specialist Leslie Nielsen, (425) 837-7051.
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