GRAND RAPIDS, MI - There were no collective groans or sighs by students at Kentwood's Bowen Elementary School when given math tasks, not even for a word problem that began "The runway at an airport is 10,000 feet long."
The fifth-grade classes, of various levels of ability, moved confidently through their assignments using the school district's new curriculum, Math in Focus, based on a framework developed by the Singapore Ministry of Education in 1980.
The slowed-down, drill-down approach to ensuring students master a concept such as fractions is growing in popularity in the United States. Singapore students have consistently demonstrated exceptional math achievement on international tests. For example, on the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) given to 15-year-olds, Singapore had the second highest average score for math, 562, while the U.S. ranked 31st out of the 65 countries with an average score of 487.
Michael Pickard, Kentwood's executive director of elementary instruction and federal programs, said the district knew it needed to step up its math game with the new national Common Core State Standards, which focus on deeper understanding of basic concepts.
"This mathematical piece is the foundation we have to get to to build upon the skills that kids need for the real world to be college- and career-ready," said Pickard, who said the Singapore approach was piloted at Bowen last year. "This program was a great match for us because our mission is to get our kids ready for college and career, and with engineering, math, and the sciences you need to have a great foundation of mathematical skills to be successful."
"We are hoping that this Math in Focus program takes our students to that next level."
Singapore Math's framework parallels ideas in the Common Core and was examined by the Common Core Committee.
"I believe we can get our students to where they need to be with this program," said Mary Campione, lead math teacher at Bowen, who said the district needed to make a change. "With the Chicago Math program, I found we were not spending enough time on topics, and kids were not grasping the concepts."
Campione said instead of a teacher introducing a topic and spending a day or two on it and moving to the next unit, they may now spend a two to three weeks on a concept. She said the program allows for greater focus and emphasizes mastery of concepts and training students to connect the different mathematical ideas.
Teachers model the lesson, work with students together on the topic, students work with their peers in a group, and then independently on workbook assignments.
The program is being used by Kentwood students in kindergarten through sixth grade and piloted in seventh and eighth grades because those versions just became available in the U.S. and the district wanted study the progress like it did with the Bowen pilot. The district has around 8,500 kids.
Around 300 districts are estimated to be using the program in the United States, including elementary schools in Saginaw Township Community Schools.
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Teacher Maureen Kaczanowski watched as a group of students drew a runway on their worksheet to help with converting the word problem into a math equation, listened to them explain how they reached their answer, questioning and helping as needed.
"I love this program because it uses a lot of manipulatives (white board, counter discs, Netbooks, etc.), which helps with students mathematical understanding because they are not just talking about concepts but seeing it through hands-on activities," said Kaczanowski. "There are reteaching, right on point, and enrichment opportunities."
Pickard said if students master a concept, they move on to real-world applications with extension lessons, but if they struggle, they receive intervention, with the instructor going back to teaching the concrete skills.
"This program is concrete first, pictorial to the abstract and with that narrowly focused for mastery learning," he said.
Pickard said they saw significant math gains at Bowen last year on its Discovery Education Test given three times a year, including 20 of 32 students in a struggling class demonstrating skills to move to grade level or above.
"Kids gaining confidence and the skills to move to higher groups within the same academic year using this program was a big selling point," he said.
Kentwood parents came out Tuesday to hear about how the new math program can be a game changer.
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