The Mahomet-Seymour School Board will vote on the nine-year adoption of textbooks for Algebra IA, Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II and an 8-year adoption of a textbook for Algebra IB at the July 16 school board meeting.
During the June 25 board meeting, Director of Instruction Nicole Rummel said she worked with the high school math department over the last year to distinguish between groups of math students to find the different and common needs between students.
With the needs of math students in mind, the district decided to focus on selecting textbooks for students entering high school in Algebra IA and Algebra I.
Based on 2018 SAT test data, 100-percent of Mahomet-Seymour students in Honors Algebra II or Pre-Calculus meet or exceeds math standards. The data also revealed that 71-percent of students in Algebra II as a junior meet or exceed math standards, but 16-cent of junior in geometry and 4-percent of juniors in Algebra IB meet or exceed math standards.
“They’re struggling to meet the standards,” Rummel said.
In November, the M-S district added a two-period math block for students who needed additional instruction.
“I think it’s fair to say here that those kids are the kids we are targeting,” she said. “With the textbook adoption, those are the kids we had in mind, those are students I’d say we can target as at risk students. At risk for whatever you want to say: at risk for not taking math their senior year, at risk for not passing the SAT, at risk for not having as many options for colleges because they didn’t get a good score on the SAT.”
After looking through materials associated with 12 different textbook options and testing the material in the classroom, the district chose the Big Idea Math Algebra and Geometry series.
“For the high school math teacher, something that is really important to them is the accuracy of the information that is in the material,” Rummel said. “And that it really helps students with that mathematical knowledge and that it is accurate and strong in mathematics.”
Rummel continued on to say that the district chose the book because it would help students who need an extra boost by providing materials that will help students understand math in a larger context.
“It really helps to teach math; like understanding of math not just this is math, but understanding how it fits into a bigger picture, the real world applications of it, and that sort of thing.”
The district will purchase one online subscription of the book per student and traditional textbooks will be available to students who want to use them. Rummel said that teachers are also very interested in a student journal component and extra activities that can be available for students who need additional practice.
With the adoption of an online textbook, Rummel said the company, Big Idea, will be able to adjust the textbook as needed over time.
Rummel also said the adoption of the textbooks will align with the district’s vertical curriculum alignment.
The district chose a nine-year adoption to save money per edition. Over the last year, district administration has established a four-year curriculum review. M-S math curriculum is up for review during the 2018-2019 school year.
With the adoption of the Big Idea Algebra and Geometry textbooks, the district would be looking at renewing the curriculum in five years at $95.55 per subscription. According to Rummel, the nine-year adoption costs and additional $21.75, but will save the district money in the long run.
If the district paid the $95.55 for five years, then decided to renew, the textbook subscriptions would cost $169.05 per subscription.
The Big Idea textbooks will be on display at the Mahomet-Seymour District office until July 16 for parent review.
Honors/AP or Pre-Algebra curriculum will remain the same at this time.
