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By KERRI GINIS
San Bernardino County Sun
The adoption of new math standards, additional teacher training and use of hands-on materials are some of the reasons Redlands students perform higher in math than in reading on standardized tests, district officials said.
According to the audit of educational effectiveness, scores from the California Achievement Test and the Stanford 9 exam show high math scores across grade levels in the Redlands Unified School District.
"Obviously, we want to get the best scores we possibly can in all subjects," said Linda Frost, director of elementary education. "But we've really done a lot with working on our math curriculum."
During the 1996-97 school year, the district adopted new math standards that focused on teaching the skills students need to learn concepts rather than just having students memorize formulas, Frost said.
The new standards helped boost scores throughout the district because students were using more critical-thinking skills, said Anita LaVelle, assistant superintendent of educational services.
"It teaches them higher-level thinking," she said. "It helps them see problems and gives them the ability to solve problems."
Following adoption of the new standards, many teachers also received training on how to effectively teach math.
"The teachers in Redlands are working very hard to make sure their math programs are balanced," said Brenda Selbv, who teaches fourth grade at Victoria Elementary School. "We are trying to find new ways of helping students with math."
Jim Roberts, a seventh-grade math teacher at Clement Middle School, said he spends time working on multiple-choice test questions that involve critical thinking with his students.
"I use a lot of interactive teaching," he said. "We may spend 10 minutes on one problem and really tear it apart."
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At the lower grades, teachers use more hands-on material. Items such as blocks or tiles allow students to visualize the problem they are working on, which often helps them better understand the material. Students use the manipulatives to set up patterns and add or subtract numbers so they can see the math in action, Frost said. "You can explain it verbally or, for most kids, they learn it better visually," she said. "Either way, we hope it translates into high test scores." |
Puttri Saragih, left, Celene Diaz, Blanca Uribe and Nelma Bedoya, right, concentrate on a geometry problem at Clement Middle School.
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More Focus Needed on High School MathBy KERRI GINIS
Most Redlands high school students stop taking advanced math courses after their sophmore year, which could be the reason for declining math scores on standardized tests in the upper grades. "That's essentially where a lot of students stop taking math," said Harley Raumin, the district's director of secondary education. "That's been fairly typical all along the way, but we are working to change that." According to the audit of educational effectiveness, math scores on standardized tests decline in 10th and 11th grades after peaking in ninth grade. Declining test scores in high school are one reason district officials said they are trying to encourage students to take math classes until they graduate. "We do well with the students that continue to take math, but a lot of students don't do that," said Anita LaVelle, assistant superintendent of educational services. "We hope to raise the expectations, so students will strive to do well." Beginning in the fall, all ninth graders will be required to take an algebra class, Redlands High School principal Bob Denham said. They won't be able to get away with merely taking a math proficiency class or some other lower-level math course. By requiring algebra in ninth grade, more students should be taking advanced math classes by the time they are in 10th and llth grade, which might help them score higher on the tests, he said. "The 11th grade test is tougher than some of the other grades, and usually we have students taking the test who have not taken the advanced classes," Denham said. Sue Heam, who is head of the math department at Redlands East Valley High School, said some students find math more challenging at the upper grades. The district is planning to introduce some of the more difficult concepts to middle school students in hopes that by the time they reach high school they already will have some understanding of the material. "The things they are expected to know at the high school level get more difficult," she said. "That's when they start getting into more sophisticated mathematical concepts. Gregg Sprang, a junior at Redlands High School, said students will benefit from learning difficult math concepts early on. "It's a hard, complicated subject and takes a lot of time," he said. "It's an exact science. Everything has to be exact." |
Redlands East Valley Students' Reading Abilities Fall Behind Math Skills By JULIET V. CASEY
Students at Redlands East Valley High School say they believe their poor test scores on last year's standardized test reflect the school system's lack of emphasis on reading. Although math scores at Redlands East Valley High School were at the national average on the state-mandated test, reading scores were significantly lower. Students scored at the 35th percentile in ninth grade, getting progressively worse in the higher grades. Sophomores scored at the 34th percentile, while juniors scored at the 31st. The national average fell within the 48th percentile. "I think reading scores are probably low because everyone thinks they could be doing something else," said junior Laura Meichsner, 17. "Teachers last year weren't really emphasizing reading as much, giving us mostly written assignments Redlands Unified officials said students today need more reading classes than what they traditionally had received. In the past, the district had not taught reading skills beyond sixth grade, shifting the focus to literature and grammar in the higher grades, said Harley Raumin, director of secondary education. "Frankly, students are not reading as well as they should, and the school is not satisfied with that," he said. "But what we have done is made more reading classes for the students who really don't know how to read well enough to perform at their grade level." Raumin said about 180 ninth graders are currently in reading classes that focus on vocabulary, root words and basic reading skills techniques they should have learned by fourth grade. "We're not looking for excuses," Raumin said. "We're looking for programs and people to get our kids at the level they need to be." The school so far has hired one reading specialist to teach ninth graders who scored below the 30th percentile on the standardized test, Assistant Principal William Klein said. Next year, the school will hire two more for sophomores and juniors. The reading classes will not, however, take the place of required English literature classes. We consider English a very important part of our curriculum," Klein said. "The extra classes aren't going to substitute for anything, but they might restrict some electives students can take." Some students said they don't believe the extra classes will help improve their test scores because those who fell behind might not be motivated to improve. "If kids don't want to learn, they aren't going to," said ninth-grader J.R. Olney, 15. "I think it'll also be hard to get people that need to take the class to show up because they might be afraid other people will think they're stupid. They'll try to get out of it." But the school isn't targeting low-scoring students alone. In February the school also started two weekly, 15-minute periods for sustained silent reading to encourage all students to read for enjoyment and improve their reading comprehension, Klein said. "Our goal as always, is to see improvement all around," he said. |
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