Sherwood School District Explores Adoption of New Secondary Math Curriculum January 2017

By Dr. Heather Cordie

With the passage of our recent bond (Thank you, Sherwood!), your investment in Sherwood Schools will help us fund curriculum purchases for the next ten years, and we are excited to put quality instructional materials in the hands of our students. We are in the process of - or will soon be in the process of - adopting new materials for secondary math, English/Language Arts, ELL, and science. We began our two-year process for adopting secondary math materials in fall of 2015 and anticipate making a recommendation to the Board of Directors to adopt a secondary curriculum in the spring of 2017. Our secondary math adoption process began with all math teachers from the high school and middle level researching and coming to agreement regarding the most effective practices in teaching math. With those principles in mind, teachers and administrators attended a full-day “Curriculum Caravan” where dozens of vendors presented their secondary math materials to school districts within northwest Oregon. Based on the Caravan and our own research, the math team selected several curricula to examine more deeply, and identified the most promising for informal pilots during the 2015-16 school year. After reviewing and teaching lessons from those curricula, the teachers unanimously decided to conduct a formal pilot of College Preparatory Math (CPM) during the first trimester of this school year. To prepare for the College Preparatory Math pilot, math teachers received four days of training as well as coaching sessions in their classrooms from the expert staff at CPM. At the District’s Board of Directors meeting on December 14, secondary math teachers presented what they have learned from the pilot this year and had very positive feedback about the quality of CPM and how well it works for students. Prior to making any recommendation to the Board for an instructional materials adoption, there will be ample opportunities for public input. There will be copies of the curriculum available at each secondary school for parents to review, and we plan to host an event where parents and community members can learn more about this curriculum and provide us with input from their perspectives. Look for announcements related to those opportunities on the District website (www.sherwood.k12.or.us), in the District Newsletter, and in the weekly updates from your schools. We look forward to sharing what we have learned with you and receiving your feedback.