Riverview Officials Stand Behind Math Program

Riverview School District officials hope this school year proves to be a success with a new math program.

At an education committee meeting on Monday, members of the school board and administrators heard from Diane Briars, a mathematics education consultant working with Riverview on its math curriculum. The math department has been working together to make sure students, teachers and parents support the program.

The 2010-11 school year was the first in which the district implemented the Everyday Math, Connected Math and Discovering Math series, which focuses on higher-lever tasks.

According to the Pearson Prentice Hall website, Connected Math 2 is a National Science Foundation-funded middle school program—for children in grades 6 to 8—that "provides students with an investigative approach to learning mathematics." The program also puts an emphasis on interactive problems and using everyday situations to teach math concepts.

Briars said the programs were needed at Riverview because they aim to increase student engagement, problem solving and reasoning skills, readiness for college/careers, articulation between elementary- and middle school-level math, and PSSA scores.

Several parents had expressed concern about the program last year. Among the parents' concerns were the group work involved, the participation aspect of the class, the frequency of testing and the combination of students at different math levels in the same classroom. 

After those discussions, the math department—with the input of students—generated group work, presentation and audience expectations that are displayed in each math classroom.

Teachers are to act as facilitators, pointing students in the right direction to solve a problem as opposed to giving them the answers.

Teachers also are offering extra teaching support and tutoring sessions for students who are having trouble with lessons.

"I think great progress is being made," Briars said. "It's a difficult shift to make."

Principal Jay Moser said the staff still is discussing how to handle homework.

Parents had been concerned because the students were getting good marks on their homework, but not doing well on tests; thus, they'd receive passing marks in the class without a full understanding of the concepts.

"We're still looking at that issue because we want to attach value for their effort to complete the homework," Moser said.

Board member Mary Kay Stein, who has researched and published several mathematics books, said it's important for students to think and reason when learning about math.

Some of her suggestions include proving in-class assistance for teachers, educating parents about the program and administering assessments that focus on thinking and reasoning.

Stein said it's going to take some time for everyone to be in sync during the transition, but things should be flowing smoothly by the third year.

Verner Elementary School principal Jason Shoaf said upcoming years will be better because students entering middle school will already have been learning the skills necessary in elementary school.

"Our job is to prepare them to take on these tasks," he said.