Area for Improved Student Performance: K-12 Schoolwide Math

1.      

Assessed Needs:

¢      Between 2002 and 2004, the NSRE showed that most students in grades 4, 8 and 10 needed more work in problem solving.

¢      In 2003-2004, the profile results for students in grade 4 and 8 showed that most students needed more work in problem solving.

Measures of Improvement:

¢      At least 50% of our students will achieve the grade expectation in problem solving, as measured by the NECAP exams in grades 3 ‹ 8, and by locally scored samples of math problem solving in grades K-2 and 9-12.

¢      At least 50% of our students will show mastery of the profile objectives in theses areas of need, as measured by math teachers in all grades K-12.

Action Steps and People Responsible Evidence and Dates

Curriculum Directors will gather support materials for this objective:

--Profile objectives and grade level expectations that align

--Templates and strategies for teaching

--Specific grade level K-12 approaches for teaching, practicing and assessing

--Collection folders and system

--Professional development for teachers as needed by individual teachers

--Create collection system

In February, 2005, Curriculum Directors will meet with all 5 faculties to look at support materials, so that faculties can begin to address or continue addressing this objective.

Prior to the March, 2005 in-service, Curriculum Directors will ask teachers to complete a survey about problem solving that will inform the dayÕs work and beyond.

Teachers will teach and assess the skills students need in problem solving and supporting skills, as part of the Math curriculums, K-12.

StudentsÕ profile data will show mastery.

Special Educators will help to teach accommodated skills in problem solving to those students they work with in classes, and to those students they teach in separate math classes.

StudentsÕ profile data will show mastery.

Selecting strategies, solving the problem, and explaining and justifying answers are the key skills in problem solving. Teachers in 1-12 will:

1.    Teach the students the ten solution strategies in the ANWSU problem solving guide, and post them in the classroom.

2.    Have students work on at least one formal problem every three weeks, using the entire problem solving process. This results in 10 polished math problems per year per student.

3.    Have students learn to self score accurately using a DOE related rubric adapted for studentsÕ use.

4.    Teachers use the DOE rubric, or an adapted version, to assess problems solved by students.

Each teacher of math will collect a total of 3 examples, by June 2005. that shows:

--Use of a variety of solution strategies

--Problem Solving that teachers have assessed as ÔmasteryÕ and Ômeets the standard.

--Attached scoring rubrics self-assessed by students, and scored by teachers, with each

sample.

3 additional samples September ‹ November 30^th

3 additional samples December ‹ February 28 (K-6) January ‹ April 15 (7-12)

3 additional samples March ‹ June 1^st (K-6) April ‹ June (7-12)