Rationale
This document was prepared with the expertise of K-12 math teachers representing the seven counties served by Educational Service Unit #13. It was designed to serve two purposes.
First, it is a basic curriculum guide that shows teachers exactly which mathematic skills are unique to each grade level. Those unique objectives should receive enough focused instruction and practice so that all students learn the skills. Teaching for mastery rather than merely introducing the same general topics year after year is a philosophical change for some educators. While the grade level assignments look somewhat arbitrary, they were selected based upon a good deal of research and discussion on the proper sequencing of skills, child development, common practice and generally available resources and textbooks. It is complete enough that local districts can spend their valuable curriculum development time in selecting local resources, textbooks units and instructional strategies that help students master this material. Not all textbooks will have enough material to cover these skills exactly as outlined. Districts using this guide can expect to need to provide a few additional materials to support the text at some grade levels. Since national publishers usually offer a broad spectrum of units and ask the teachers to select those that match the local curriculum, districts should also expect that teachers would eventually be able to omit some extraneous material from their textbooks. This curriculum was developed on the premise that mastery of the skills is essential, so the teacher needs to be focused and provide in-depth learning opportunities.
Secondly, this is the framework upon which the ESU #13 SOAR STARS MATH CONSORTIUM assessments were developed. Highly qualified math teachers, K-12, worked together to design summative grade level tests (to check for mastery learning throughout the grades) and core tests (to provide information on student achievement of the Nebraska State Standards). By developing common regional tests, panhandle schools have pooled their resources to provide the best expertise in assessment design and provided an opportunity for isolated content specialists to network with others to clarify the standards and share their expertise in teaching solutions. Common regional tests also provide rural schools a common student population base large enough to do valid statistical studies on the reliability of the assessments. Creating common assessments also was an efficient use of personnel and available finances. Once assessments are completed, districts will get additional documentation to show how the curriculum objects/Nebraska math standards align with the tests and statistical data.
Schools that wish to use this document should complete the column showing local resources for teaching each objective. Schools that have their own curriculum will need to verify grade level focus so that their students are given the opportunity to learn the content before participating in the common regional assessments. Many teachers have already completed this resource alignment process. Additionally, schools must complete a listing of how they are assessing each standard. They must examine the formative and summative assessments and ensure that each standard is measured.For more information contact ESU #13 SOAR 308-635-0661.