to flip budgeting on its head and make our educational priorities the driver of our budget, instead of our budget driving our priorities. Once we made that choice, we were able to focus on a top educational priority: updating our curriculum materials.
We started with elementary math. But, we didn’t just put money into the first curriculum that appeared to show results. Instead, we used a systematic, scientific approach to ensure that we got the biggest educational gain for our financial buck. We began a process to test three new curriculum offerings, with the previous curriculum serving as a control group. The conclusion of the process was that we identified Math Expressions as getting high marks in user satisfaction (student, teacher, and parent), while also showing significant gains in student achievement.
One parent shared this feedback on a survey, “I am very happy and satisfied with this math program. My daughter feels she is "good" at math. Confidence is half the battle!” And, our math teachers said things like, “Very in-depth program.” “All lessons incorporates individual, partner & group work and the Homework & Remembering was a great piece for review and keeping parents in the loop.” “The kids seem to really enjoy solving the math because a lot of them are viewed as puzzles, which makes it more fun. A lot of great resources, especially for struggling students.” We are proud of the process we used to select Math Expressions and are excited to be implementing it in all of our elementary schools this year.
Now that we have broken the mold with our math curriculum, we are doing the same with our elementary English language arts curriculum. We also have plans to conduct periodic reviews of curriculum in other areas and to make sure that we are giving our teachers and students the best materials possible to support great teaching and learning.
Our success story in “smarter school spending” is being recognized nationally and is being used as a tool to help other schools across the country. But, our most important success stories are right here at home.
Sincerely,
Paul A. Soma
Superintendent Traverse City Area Public Schools |
