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The State of California allows districts to adopt new mathematics materials every 7 years. The state provides funds that are specifically earmarked for materials that are on a state adopted materials list. Four years ago, the junior high mathematics program (defined as 6th - 8th grade) went through the adoption cycle and the district selected the McDougal Littell program. This program has met with great success.
This year, the elementary level mathematics program (defined as K - 5) was due for adoption of new materials, so the district decided to not only select new materials but to also review the entire K-12 math progression. The district wanted to ensure that there was consistent instruction across the grades so that there were no gaps between the elementary, junior high and high school mathematics programs.
To achieve this goal, the Los Altos School District convened a Math Steering Committee composed of administrators, principals, teachers and parents. This Steering Committee spent the year evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the current math program (in terms of how it prepares students for junior high and high school mathematics); looking at current math research (both nationally and internationally); identifying the essential elements of an effective math program; selecting new materials; and designing a math program that will ensure students success in mathematics.
The committee initially developed a district philosophy to guide their decisions throughout the adoption process. Committee members analyzed approved mathematics materials based on standards, processes of critical thinking and problem solving, organization of instruction (meeting the needs of all learners) and the assessments used to inform instruction. After careful evaluation, the Committee narrowed the piloting options to two selected publishers (Scott Foresman and Houghton Mifflin). Every school had the opportunity to pilot at least one grade level in January 2009. In April 2009, the committee interviewed every teacher who participated in the pilot and made the final decision to adopt the Scott Foresman materials.
Once these materials were selected, the committee developed an effective transition plan to ensure that all teachers were adequately trained in the new materials and that all students could be evaluated and placed into their appropriate classes by the first month of school.
The LASD Math Committee was led by Bob Celeste
who has been a principal for 17 years and has spent two decades
in the Los Altos School District.
The committee also included Jeff Baier (LASD Assistant Superintendent-Instruction), Samantha Thai (LASD Curriculum Integration Specialist), Nancy Davis (Covington Principal) and teachers representing every school in the district and from each of the grade levels (from both advanced and grade level math classes). Finally, the committee had 3 parents from 3 different schools, representing students in both grade level and advanced math.
The committee members are as follows (in alphabetical order): Jeff Baier (LASD), Lynn Boskie (Teacher-Loyola), Bob Celeste (Principal-Springer), Rachel Commons (Teacher-Gardner Bullis) , Joanie Craddock (Teacher-Loyola), Nancy Davis (Principal-Covington), Anna Durante (Parent-Loyola), Marion Honigman (Teacher-Blach), Danielle James (Parent-Oak), Paige Kaplan (Parent-Covington), Annette Kern (Teacher-Almond), Sarah Koh (Teacher-Gardner Bullis), Laurel McNeil (Teacher-Oak), Sascha Mowrey (Teacher-Santa Rita), Kim Nero (Teacher-Covington), Beth Rubinstein (Teacher-Springer), Amanda Terry (Teacher-Oak), Samantha Thai (LASD) and Mary Lou Whalen (Teacher-Egan).
Using the guidance set out by the Santa Clara Department of Education’s Mathematics Adoption Toolkit (http://www.sccoe.k12.ca.us/depts/prof-dev/mathtoolkit.asp), the LASD Math Steering Committee began their process by first identifying the essential elements that would guide the adoption of a comprehensive K-5 math curriculum and ultimately the design of the LASD K-5 math program. The elements were created and proposed by the entire K-5 district staff at a minimum day inservice held on October 9, 2009. These elements then formed the Los Altos School District Lens that the committee used to assess state approved adoptions. This lens focused the Committee on looking at materials that supported consistency in math vocabulary, real world problem solving connections, and in-depth conceptual understandings of essential standards in the Los Altos School District. Particular attention was given to identifying a program that supported a range of learners, from the gifted to those children who need extra support.
Based on this criteria, the Committee narrowed the piloting options to two selected publishers: Scott Foresman and Houghton Mifflin. They then launched a piloting program that gave every school the opportunity to pilot both publishers' material in at least one grade level. Each teacher learned to use an in depth evaluation form that was developed by the Santa Clara County Office of Education. The assessment form, entitled “Reviewing Program Components”, can be found on Page 59 of the Mathematics Adoption Toolkit (PDF) from the Santa Clara County Office of Education.
This form ensured that feedback was collected uniformly. It asked for numeric rankings and teacher comments on the following areas:
Mathematical Content: Content led to mastery of standards; provided consistent math vocabulary; developed problem solving and reasoning skills; supported charts, diagrams and graphs; delineated connections between grade-level mathematical strands and provided an effective teacher's edition.
Instructional Program: Program was presented in multiple ways; promoted understanding of standards; provided effective materials, tools and manipulatives; accommodated diverse learning needs; allowed students to make connections in the unit of study; helped teachers identify unit design and instructional strategies; provided time options and pacing guides; and gave teacher's suggestions for how to present material to all learners.
Assessment: Assessment materials offered multiple measures to assess student mastery of reasoning standards; provided assessments that measured student’s pre-instructional knowledge, measured the progress of students toward mastery of the standards and then measured the student’s mastery of the standards after the unit had been competed; supported teacher decisions and provided adequate resources.
Universal Access: The program provided sufficient instructional strategies and resources to help teachers identify errors and misconceptions in student learning along with underlying reasons; to meet the needs of all the diverse learners; to help students make connections in the unit of study; and to help teachers identify unit design, instructional strategies and pacing guides.
In April, the Math Steering Committee dedicated three 2-1/2 hour meetings to collecting and reviewing these evaluation forms. They invited all of the teachers who piloted the Houghton Mifflin material to give a detailed summary of their experience with this material. The Steering Committee dedicated a second meeting to the teachers who piloted the Scott Foresman material. Finally, the Steering Committee carefully reviewed all of the rankings and comments in detail, evaluated the pros and cons of each program, compared each program to the LASD Lens and then reached a unanimous decision.
After careful review of all the rankings, comments and evaluation forms submitted by each teacher participating in the pilot, the LASD Math Steering Committee unanimously voted to select the Scott Foresman material. The unanimous vote was based on the fact that the Scott Foresman material demonstrated clear strengths (across grades) in the following areas:
- standards and algebra preparation: The Foresman material successfully met all of the standards requirements and provided very effective material to prepare students for algebra.
- problem solving and reasoning: Teachers commented across the grades that this material was particularly strong in this area. It provided visual models and other effective tools that allowed a full range of students to go into various depths of understanding of the material.
- assessment: The Scott Foresman material provided very clear assessments that allowed students to apply their knowledge of the material and demonstrate their understanding so that teachers could make accurate assessments of comprehension.
- written solutions: The assessments also provided opportunities for open-ended or written solutions to problems, thereby challenging the students to detail how they arrived at a solution.
- support for modalities of learning: The Scott Foresman material provided a variety of tools that allowed teachers to present a lesson in different ways. This gave teachers the ability to more effectively accommodate all styles of learning.
- online tools: Teachers had very positive comments about the online tools provided by the Scott Foresman material. The educational tools were effective and engaging, and the communication tools allowed teachers to share the students' progress with their parents.
- student collaboration: The material encouraged strong student collaboration, providing opportunities for teamwork and problem solving opportunities.
- spiral review: The Scott Foresman material had strong support for spiral review, allowing the students to continually review concepts.
- student and teacher excitement: Finally, the Steering Committee noted strong enthusiasm expressed by the teachers who evaluated the Scott Foresman material. The teachers were very excited by the program, and many of them discussed the excitement expressed by their students.
The National Math Panel research states, “To compete in the 21st century global economy, knowledge of and proficiency in mathematics is critical.” With this in mind, LASD has adopted and implemented the following mathematics program that equips our students with the skills needed to ensure their future success.
The new LASD K-5 mathematics program focuses on grade level content.
Students who demonstrate advanced math skills (based on assessments
and teacher evaluation) will be grouped together. While remaining
at grade level, all students utilize extended material that builds
a deeper understanding of the unit’s topic.
The Math Steering Committee selected the Scott Foresman enVision Math and Investigations program because it was particularly strong in four areas:
- differentiated instruction (addressing the needs of special education, at-risk, advanced and english learner students);
- problem solving (with particular focus on developing strategies and demonstrating how a solution was found),
- assessments that allow teachers to monitor each student’s progress on a daily basis; and
- a wide-range of tools (particularly online tools) that allow teachers to accommodate different styles of learning.
Below is a table that shows how the new K-5 enVision Math
Program differs from the pre-existing program. This table shows the activities
for a typical day. To visually see what this program looks like in a classroom
setting, we encourage parents to view the short video presented at the
EnVision Math website.
Grade level math classes cover grade level material at a pace and depth of complexity
that allow students to cover all the required standards and units within the
school year. The K-5 math program utilizes both Scott Foresman
enVision and Investigations materials to provide differentiated
instruction that addresses the needs of all students. The Scott Foresman
enVision program empowers teachers with a variety of tools and teaching strategies
so that they can accomodate different learning styles. This program presents concepts visually
to deepen conceptual development and it focuses on building strong problem-solving skills.
Although grade skipping will no longer be supported, any
student who shows a strong understanding of a math concept will be further
challenged with the Scott
Foresman Investigations material. This material offers
activity-based mathematics that encourage students to think creatively,
develop and articulate their own problem-solving strategies, and
work cooperatively with their classmates. Many Investigations activities
involve engaging games that reinforce students' understanding of
important mathematical concepts and skills.
It is important to note that all teachers are trained in
both enVision and Investigations math materials so that they
can challenge their students (at any time) with problems
that are at the appropriate
levels of depth and complexity.
Some of the strengths of the enVision program
include the assessment tools that are provided so that teachers
can assess students’ abilities before the unit,
at the end of the unit AND on a daily basis. Aside from homework,
the enVision math program starts the day with a Daily Spiral
Review and Problem of the Day. This exercise allows teachers
to assess how well the students are understanding current material.
If a class or set of students is mastering the concepts quickly,
then a teacher can introduce more complex material via Investigations.
All students are periodically assessed through the Scott Foresman unit tests. These tests show how well a student understands the material presented within a unit. The outcome of these tests help identify which students need more support and which can be challenged more extensively. The unit tests alone do not determine a student's placement within a math group. Careful consideration by grade level teachers in collaboration with the principal determine individual student placement based on 1) the outcome of these assessments, 2) the performance of the student's classwork and 3) the teacher's assessment of the student's overall abilities.
Flexible grouping at the beginning of the year is based on performance from the previous year (including the end-of-year assessment given to third through fifth grade classes). Again, performance on this assessment is only one factor in the decision process for class placement. The same factors listed above as well as the student's STAR test results are used to determine fall placement.
It is also important to note that all students are re-assessed for grouping throughout the year. So fall placement into a particular group does not mean that the student will remain in that group throughout the year. Placement into flexible grouping is a fluid process, so students will move in and out of these groupings based on their performance. This ensures that all students will be challenged at the appropriate level for their skills.
Grade skipping will not be supported beyond the 2009-2010 academic year.
Fourth grade students who participated in advanced level
math in the 2008-2009 academic year will continue to be taught one grade level
above in 2009-2010 using the Scott Foresman materials. Fifth grade students
who participated in advanced level math in the 2008-2009 academic year will
be placed in the 6th grade math class that uses McDougal
Littell material. This material will be combined with additional material so
that it challenges advanced students with more complex problems. This is consistent
with what has been done in 6th grade for the past 4 years.
All incoming Fourth graders for the 2009-2010 school year will be taught using grade level material. To summarize, the phaseout will look as follows:
2009 - 2010 Academic Year
| Pre-Algebra 6th Graders: |
study
pre-algebra classes at the local elementary school |
| Accelerated
6th Graders: |
study grade level McDougal Littell with additional material to focus on depth of knowledge |
| Grade
Level 6th Graders: |
study grade level McDougal Littell material |
| Advanced 5th Graders: |
study
the same material as Grade Level 6th Graders |
| Grade
Level 5th
Graders: |
study
grade level Scott Foresman enVision and Investigations Material* |
| Grade
Level 4th Graders: |
study
grade level Scott Foresman enVision and Investigations material |
2010 - 2011 Academic Year
| Pre-Algebra 6th Graders: |
study
pre-algebra classes or at the local elementary school |
| Accelerated 6th
Graders: |
study
grade level McDougal Littell with additional material to focus on depth
of knowledge |
| Grade
Level 6th
Graders: |
study grade level McDougal Littell material |
| Grade
Level 4th & 5th
Graders: |
study
grade level Scott Foresman enVision and Investigations material* |
*NOTE: Investigations are available to all Grade Level
math classes. Teachers can utilize this material to challenge students who
show a proficiency in an area of math.
All teachers will be trained in the full breadth of the
math materials for their particular grade. This will allow them to leverage
all Scott Foresman and Investigations math material at any time.
Many parents will have questions about the new mathematics program. A Frequently Asked Questions section is provided to address most of these questions.
The LASD Math Steering Committee included staff, teachers and parents
who were all passionate about mathematics. Many of these members
had reviewed national and international research on how U.S students
were performing in mathematics compared to their international peers.
They had also looked at research on what effective methods were being
used to teach math and to better prepare our students for the future.
Links to some of this research can be accessed on the Math
Program Research page.
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