Two K-8 Teachers To Receive Special Training; Math Classes May be Added
By Paul Gingras

Two St. Ignace teachers will go on paid leave next winter semester to receive special training in mathematics and science, to assist the district in meeting the state's curricula mandates in the elementary and middle schools. Superintendent Mike Springsteen told school board members Monday, January 14, that a state grant will pay for the instruction and the cost to hire substitute teachers.

The teachers will be selected by the end of the school year, he said. Their training will be provided by Lake Superior State University and the University of Michigan.

The new elementary and middle school curricula that has been implemented over the past three years is much more difficult than before, Mr. Springsteen said, and having teachers with specialized training will help students and teachers adjust to the new content. The trainees will help their peers design lesson plans and will be an integral part of the Mathematics Curriculum Review Team, an intermediate school district body that helps area schools design mathematics curricula and keep them up to date.

Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District (ISD) Superintendent Pete Everson, who attended the meeting, noted that having curriculum review teams in place is "one of the most important things we do."

There are curriculum review teams for all major academic disciplines.

The Mathematics and Science Center, a division of the ISD that works with Lake Superior State University, applied for the grant. The district has not received the precise amount of the grant, but Mr. Springsteen said it will cover the cost of hiring long-term substitute teachers to run classes next winter, the trainees' education and transportation, and once they are trained, the district will receive $10,000 for materials to help implement the curriculum, he added.

The board of education voted to use $23,800 from the Michigan Department of Education to continue its participation in the Community Action Head Start program, a preschool program designed to prepare students for kindergarten.

The district received the funding as part of the Michigan School Readiness Program, which is designed to give four-year-olds with special needs a half day of instruction to prepare them for regular classes.

By using the funding for Head Start, more students benefit than if the district were to operate its own program, Mr. Springsteen said.

"It is a boost," he said, noting that all research shows that this type of support helps students when they get to kindergarten.

The board discussed requiring a third year of mathematics for high school students, beginning with the class of 2010, this year's sophomores. Action on the matter is expected at the February board meeting.

Although this year's freshman class will be required to take 3.5 credits of mathematics by the time they are graduated, owing to new graduation requirements beginning with the class of 2011, the district does not want to wait to require additional mathematics for its sophomores, explained High School Principal Don Gustafson.

Juniors are now required to take the American College Test (ACT) in their junior year. It includes a mathematics portion designed for students who have taken three years of mathematics.

Currently, high school students must take two years of mathematics, so, to better prepare them for the ACT, the district is considering adding the third year, which is important to students who wish to go to college, and to the district, which is judged on how well it is educating students, in part, via ACT scores, Mr. Springsteen said.

Last year's ACT scores revealed a deficiency in mathematics.

Ten of the 66 juniors who took the ACT were not in a mathematics class that year, in part, because it was not required. None of them scored satisfactorily on the test, Mr. Gustafson said, noting that the 10 students amounted to 15% of those who took the exam.

The rest of the students scored low in mathematics, however, so the district has been working to augment its mathematics curriculum, Mr. Gustafson said. If the school board votes to require next year's juniors to take math, they will receive the benefits of the improved curriculum, he explained.

The first time students were required to take the ACT was last spring. At LaSalle, 30% scored satisfactorily in mathematics, compared to 42% in the Eastern Upper Peninsula and 46% in Michigan, Mr. Gustafson said.

Schools that have consistently low scores are sanctioned by the Michigan Department of Education, Mr. Springsteen said. If this were to continue in St. Ignace, the department would bring in state officials to make a plan to bring local scores up. St. Ignace Area Schools is trying bring student scores up on its own initiative, he added.

Requiring more mathematics in high school is one part of a twopart method to raise test scores, said Mr. Gustafson. The second is to more closely align the mathematics curriculum with ACT standards, he added.

The ACT is designed to test students who have taken algebra I, algebra II, and geometry. In the past, students who struggled in mathematics sometimes took lower-level courses, such as pre-algebra or applied algebra.

These are no longer highschool classes, so to help highschool students who are struggling, LaSalle's mathematics teachers have been available three times a week at an after-school mathematics laboratory, Mr. Gustafson said.

Teachers contracts expire this summer and the school board went into closed session to discuss strategy for negotiations with the St. Ignace Education Association (SEA).

Mr. Springsteen reported that a hearing regarding unfair labor practice has been canceled because lawyers for the Michigan Education Association (MEA) and the St. Ignace Area Schools agree on the basic facts of the case.

The dispute involves the laying off of tenured fifth-grade language arts and social studies teacher Jennifer Powell in 2004. Mrs. Powell contested the ruling on several fronts and insisted she should have been allowed to take over a physical education or music teaching position, in part, because her teaching certificate qualified her to teach all kindergarten through-eighth-grade subjects.

A judge for the Michigan Education Relations Commission (MERC) will review briefs by both lawyers and is expected to rule on the matter in three to six months, Mr. Springsteen said.