Hands-on classroom use of two choices of education materials has culminated in teachers recommending the next math curriculum that Great Bend USD 428 will adopt for grades 7-12. The teachers made their recommendations to the school board on Monday and a final decision will be made in April.
Assistant Superintendent John Popp said some of the prices quoted are being negotiated. Whatever the district purchases, it will be for the next seven years.
The prices include professional development materials for instructors, textbook sets for the classrooms, online materials, and, in some cases, workbooks that are replaced each year.
The middle school recommendation is “Reveal Math,” a McGraw Hill product, along with ALEKS, an online math assessment program. The estimated cost for seven years is $86,942.
At the middle school, teachers Jennifer Axman and Keith Moeder piloted seventh-grade materials, while teachers Andrea Ingram and Nikki Taylor piloted eighth-grade materials.
Axman said the Reveal Math curriculum offers advantages over the Pearson curriculum used for the past seven years.
“It’s very rigorous,” she told the school board. “It offers lots of multiple strategies and multiple resources, a lot more resources than Pearson ever has given us are available and a lot more printable materials than Pearson allows.”
The high school recommendation is for Elayn Martin-Gay textbooks and MyMathLab, a Savvas product, for algebra I and II and geometry. The teachers are also asking to have two software licenses (Kuta and Gimkit) renewed, and a new set of graphing calculators purchased. The estimated total price is $148,907.
GBHS teachers Daniel Schneider, Zach Bartel and Wendy Popp piloted materials from McGraw Hill, Pearson Envisions and MyMathLab.
The process
USD 428 uses a two-year curriculum adoption process for each subject. In year one, the adoption committee reviews state standards and aligns current practices to the standards. They review available resources and select pilot material and teachers.
In year two, the selected programs are used in actual classrooms. The pilot programs are reviewed for effectiveness and ease of use. Teachers find out if they will need supplemental materials or if there are other issues.
They look at the pace of the curriculum for coverage through the school year and find any weaknesses in current or piloted resources. Then they make their recommendations, presenting them to the school board and any necessary committees.
The school board typically hears their recommendations at a “first reading” but does not give final approval until the “second reading” the following month.
Once approved, professional development is conducted before teachers implement the new curriculum.
