A year-long process to revamp the New Richmond Exempted Village School District’s math curriculum ended with the recommendation of two new math programs for the 2023-2024 school year.
At the May meeting of the NREVSD Board of Education, Director of Curriculum and Technology Dr. Jill Hollandsworth began the presentation on the new programs by praising the staff members involved in the selection process.
“Last year, when we began our revision cycle with language arts, I didn’t think it would be possible to work with a group of teachers who were as committed to the process and as professional as that group of teachers,” Dr. Hollandsworth said. “I was incorrect. The math teachers have been equally dedicated and have worked tirelessly this entire year.”
Dr. Hollandsworth then walked the public through the very beginning of the adoption process, which started at the beginning of the school year last August.
“We began our first meeting of the year with ‘What do we want our math classes to feel like, and to sound like and to look like?” Dr. Hollandsworth said. “It was a chance to challenge our own ideas.”
Both the primary (K-5) and secondary (6-12) committees used a rubric to evaluate possible programs on several criteria, including the use of hands-on manipulatives, quality of assessments, intervention supports and alignment to Ohio’s Mathematical Learning Standards, among others.
The primary committee chose ‘Bridges,’ published by The Math Learning Center. Bridges helps students make sense of concepts by utilizing visual models and manipulatives. They also interact with other students, moving around the classroom and actively engaging in learning.
“We have been using, for several years, the Bridges intervention program,” Dr. Hollandsworth said. “It’s a very high-quality intervention program. This would tie in seamlessly with that, students would get their core instruction and when they’re pulled for intervention it’s the same program, the same content and the same standards being worked on.”
Bridges ties in well with the program chosen at the secondary level, enVision mathematics, published by Savvas Learning Company.
“This level of rigor and developing foundational skills in mathematics would lead perfectly to our fifth graders going into the enVision program and being able to handle the kind of conceptual understanding that this program requires,” Dr. Hollandsworth said.
Utilization of enVision allows students to deepen their conceptual understanding through problem-based learning and visual learning. The program also helps inform students’ learning through in-depth data analysis and collection. It also challenges students mathematically, helping them work independently and overcome possible failures.
“They shouldn’t be able to do a problem so easy that it’s just memorizing and following a formula,” Dr. Hollandsworth said. “We want our students to be able to think mathematically, reason and sometimes get it wrong and have to figure it out.”
The math curriculum is the second of five steps in the current review cycle. Last year, the district adopted a new Language Arts curriculum following a pause in curriculum review as part of cost-saving measures following the closure of the Beckjord Power Plant.
“I’ve been in this district for quite a while,” New Richmond Middle School math teacher Todd Jackson said during the May board of education meeting. “I’ve been through several adoptions. This was the most thorough, complete, rigorous adoption we’ve ever been through. This is the way we should have done it the last 30 years. This is going to get us a lot further down the road than anything we’ve ever done.”
Science, physical education and health curriculums are currently subject to be reviewed during the upcoming 2023-2024 school year.