Making math matter
Toolbox
BY Cristina Kumka STAFF WRITER - Published: May 14, 2009
In response to some students in three district schools failing to meet academic progress standards used by the state, the Rutland Public School District's pre-kindergarten through sixth-grade math coach Dana Johnson and Assistant Superintendent Robert Bliss explained to the School Board on Tuesday night how they and the state are planning to improve test scores.
"From the middle school through to the high school, we will be embedding New England Common Assessments Program-released items into their curriculum," Bliss said in a phone interview prior to Tuesday's meeting.
Math teachers at Rutland Intermediate School, Rutland Middle School and Rutland High School will be adding mathematical problems students in grades 3 through 8 and 11 see on state-mandated tests each October.
Based on NECAP data, the state education department placed the intermediate school and high school in a third year of corrective action after certain groups of students did not meet adequate yearly progress in math and reading scores.
The middle school was placed in its second year of corrective action for its math and reading scores among some students.
Because of the designations, the schools are restructuring how they teach math.
The district received the test scores back from the company that administers the NECAP this year and determined that a "relative weakness" among students who took the exams at the intermediate school in functions and algebra, according to Bliss.
Sample problems will be used by teachers in an effort to improve the scores among students in grades before high school. At the high school, the math curriculum will better prepare juniors for taking the test and doing well.
The new integration of NECAP sample problems are done in lieu of not having full NECAP test prep courses at the schools.
"There are states in the nation that do do that," Bliss said of making full test-prep courses part of a school district's curriculum.
But in Vermont, the NECAP stakes aren't as high as in other states, where students can't graduate if they fail standardized tests, he said.
Students in Rutland and elsewhere throughout the state, however, are — compared to other states — held to a higher standard by the state education department, according to Bliss.
"Our students are progressing along those standards and will graduate regardless of how they do on the NECAP," he said.
The goal, according to Bliss, is to improve math scores by 2010 following the curriculum adjustments.
The high school goal is to increase the percentage of all students who achieve scores above the state average by 15 percentage points, from 29 percent to 44 percent. The goal at the middle school is a 10 percentage point increase and at the intermediate school, a 3 percentage point increase in functions and algebra, according to Bliss.
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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