Monday, June 4, 2012

Push, Push, Push

I spoke at the Board of Education meeting on 24 May to urge the administration to start the Math Curriculum review before November, which is the date for the delivery of the next Math Monitoring Report.  The curriculum review policy is being discussed now in committee, and as written, would rely on the Monitoring Report to kick off the process.

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First, congratulations to the high school and middle school Math teams for their first place finishes in Connecticut competitions.


Thank you for your recent actions regarding the acceleration of a math curriculum review.  This is a great first step. 

Recognizing the impact of the proposed revisions to Policy E001, I would like to make a case for the initiation of this review prior to the delivery of the next Math Monitoring Report scheduled for November 2012.  The reasoning for this is simple timing.  If that report triggers the start of the 12-18 month cycle for the review, the earliest implementation would be September 2014, which is the start of the school year with the new standardized testing. 
Initiation now, or more realistically as soon as a new Math Coordinator is appointed, still provides the opportunity to conduct a thorough review and to have time for professional development prior to the start of the 2013-14 school year.  The budget cycle would allow for this timing.   I recognize the unsettled nature of some of the programs being offered for sale as Common Core compliant.  However, investigating the experiences of other districts which have already made moves to new curricula should provide the required information to select an appropriate, Common Core aligned, program.
The data contained in the January 2012 Math Monitoring Report can be augmented with the additional required elements as they become available.  Waiting until November would delay implementation a full year.  It would extend the use of Everyday Math one more year, and would also cause us to spend resources developing and implementing a transition plan with Everyday Math as its basis.
Please consider an immediate start to the review.
Thank you.

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