The National Council on Teacher Quality put out a “Race to the Top” report (August, 2009) with recommendations for the state of Colorado. Of the strategies recommended, Strategy #6 Statewide Adoption of Effective Curriculum is quite relevant and reads:
“Objectives:
Students achieve when not one but four elements are in place:
- STANDARDS which organize student learning: what needs to be learned and when it should be learned, no matter where students attend school.
- CURRICULUM which delivers a level of practical, daily detail to the standards needed by the teacher, which presents sound instructional strategies that work, and which provides the blueprint needed to ensure that all children regardless of background can meet the standards.
- TEACHERS capable of delivering the curriculum, adjusting it to meet the needs of students, deciding if and when additional tools such as technology are needed.
- ASSESSMENT both formative and summative, to serve as a yardstick of progress.
Take one of these four elements away, and achievement will suffer” (p. 39; see Files section for full report)
Let’s see…. We have PA standards, weak though they may be; SCASD has excellent teachers who can meet the needs of students (and whose job it is to implement the curriculum selected by the board); and substantial PSSA data across the last 7 years shows our kids’ achievement in mathematics is suffering.
So, what’s missing? A sound instructional strategy in mathematics — Investigations in Number, Data & Space has clearly been revealed to be insufficient, particularly for economically disadvantaged kids.
Interesting, the NCTQ report recommends statewide adoption of Singapore Mathematics. Now, if only SCASD would do exactly that, it could truly be a leader in the field and fulfill its mission to prepare students for lifelong success through excellence in education.
