Curriculum+plus+Technology+equals+Improvement

Interesting Workshop from the Bellingham Public Schools They showed us their Math Improvement Plan. They use Larson’s Math http://www.larsonmath.com/ (subscription-based online math software for students in grade 3 and up) from what I could tell it is similar to Successmaker. After a pretest each classroom uses it for 15 minutes 3x a week. They individualize it for each student after analyzing math scores. Their Director of Curriculum and Tech Specialist work with the teachers. The Director of Curriculum prints progress data and charts for each teacher twice a year. He meets with them and reviews information and helps them make adjustments. They also have a “Math Fiesta” six weeks before the MCAS and bring every fourth grader in the lab a few times a week for an hour and review math with them. They shared a wonderful resource with us with many sample MCAS math questions. The MCAS Math review under grade 3 and 4 is really good. http://www.bellingham.k12.ma.us/it/what_we_do/webquest/elem.htm
 * Curriculum + Technology = Improvement**