School district to start new math curriculum
Medford Township School District will be implementing the Big Ideas math curriculum at the beginning of the new school year.
The curriculum department has been researching a new math program that would work best for the district, according to Tom Olson, administrative director of programming and planning.
The change comes with the current program not aligning to common core standards, which were released in 2010.
According to Olson, although the district wanted to stick with Connected Math, it wasn’t fair to students to have to completely rewrite the curriculum. So Olson recommended the math program, Big Ideas.
According to Olson, the research began in 2011, looking into enVisionMath, and he recommended it a year ago. They learned it didn’t meet student population needs and moved forward.
“We spent a great deal of time looking at programs on the market,” Olson said.
Upon further research, Olson came to the conclusion the teachers and population needed a change from Connected Math, and with the pilot program, felt comfortable recommending Big Ideas.
“It’s aligned to the common core. It’s strongest piece is that it has a dual pathway,” Olson said. “It has a balanced instruction between inquiry and direct instruction.”
According to Olson, Big Ideas is challenging and applies a mixed approach. There will also be a textbook for students in third through eighth grade.
“The home component for parents is very user friendly,” Olson said. “There are videos and a technology component for each lesson.”
Additionally, the program teaches mastery; there are multiple resources for parents and students; it works with technology with a user-friendly home component; and there are multiple choices for lesson support and student practice response, according to Olson.
Additional user groups of the program in the state include Morris Plains, Westfield, Hamilton Township, Pemberton, Morris, Howell, Hopewell and Upper Township.
A schedule has been set for teachers to begin writing the curriculum for the 2013–2014 school year, so it can be implemented in the fall when the students return.
The algebra program will remain unchanged and will continue to follow the Lenape Regional High School District curriculum.
In other news:
The district performed a self-assessment to determine its grade under the Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act.
The total possible points the district could receive was 75, and the district came out with an overall score of 73. The district was required to assess its approaches, training, staff instruction, training programs, curriculum, personnel and investigative procedures. Each school scored between 69 and 75 points.
According to Anti-Bullying Coordinator, Dr. Gale Ferraro, all of the schools met expectations.
“Depending on the schools, in some areas, they felt they went above and beyond expectations,” Ferraro said.
The state will record the score, and it will be posted on each school’s website in addition to the district’s site by September.
“We did a very good job, mostly because things were embedded in what we were already doing,” Ferraro said.
The next board of education meeting is scheduled for Aug. 26 at 7:30 p.m.
