The school board approved plan at Thursday’s meeting
Gilroy – After months of revisions and hours of discussion, the school board finally placed its stamp of approval on the district’s new math plan during Thursday night’s meeting.
A group of teachers and district officials headed up to the podium and each took turns presenting pieces of the revised narrative.
Since one of the major complaints teachers voiced after reviewing the previous plan was that it was far too broad, the reworked version was slimmed down from 20 to nine pages and covers one year instead of the original five.
Teachers also felt that they had not been included in the process. The district initially requested approval of the initial plan in July but the board asked for more time to make it a more collaborative project.
In response, the district staged three July and two August meetings. About 25 teachers attended the summer meetings to help rework the math blueprint that was then presented during Thursday’s meeting.
The new plan is less complex and specifies an algebra readiness plan based on the state’s math framework. The assessment piece incorporates all grade levels. In grades kindergarten through seven it specifies that the teachers, Gilroy Teacher’s Association and district administrators will identify “quarterly benchmark assessments.”
At the elementary level, the three entities will select an assessment aligned to state standards. Multiple measures to identify student math proficiency for placement in middle school.
And in high school, a math committee will review the effectiveness of using the California State University Algebra Readiness for ninth grade math placements. In addition, the plan specifies that a job description for math coaches will be developed and monthly support sessions will be scheduled for the coaches.
Board members devoted a large chunk of the meeting to a discussion revolving around the document’s target audience. Trustee Rhoda Bress sparked the conversation by saying her question after reading through the plan was: how does it communicate to parents what the district is doing to improve math.
But Assistant Superintendent Jacki Horejs said she had always considered the document an internal plan, targeted for teachers and district employees. Trustee Javier Aguirre said he agreed with that assessment, before making a motion to approve the revised math plan.
Revamping Gilroy Unified School District’s mathematics program has been a districtwide focus since 2002, since educators and district officials began taking a close look at the local epidemic of poor math proficiency.
