Jake Rutz, Delaware Live
March 14, 2022
Caesar Rodney, Brandywine, and Appoquinimink school districts will welcome a national tour this month that celebrates the high level of mathematics learning in Delaware.
The Knowledge Matters Campaign chose Delaware as the first stop, and it’s the first time the First State has been the subject of a math-focused tour. It previously has been included in English language arts and literacy.
The tour will highlight shifts in classrooms that include new materials and allow more student-led classes, presentations and discussions.
Barbara Davidson, the executive director for the Knowledge Matters Campaign, said Delaware has implemented high-quality improvements to their curricula and instruction in an effort to restore wonder and excitement in the classroom.
The campaign’s mantra is “find the good and praise it.”
Michelle Hawley, supervisor of mathematics at Brandywine School District, said that the most prominent improvement to Delaware math has come at the middle school level, where they have been teaching “Kendall Hunt’s Illustrative Mathematics 6-8 Math,” published in 2019.
The math book received a perfect score on EdReports, an organization that grades materials that schools use in their curriculum.
In addition, Hawley said the unique quality of Delaware’s mathematics education comes from enlightening and elevating students in the classroom.
“The curriculum requires students to be an active participant in their learning,” Hawley said. “Students have really taken ownership of the classroom, and teachers have become facilitators that connect the dots.”
This curriculum was provided by Illustrative Mathematics.
This Delaware ownership comes in the form of students making connections to each other, connections between different mathematical areas, and being more outspoken in the classroom.
“Students are realizing that math makes sense,” said Hawley. “They are seeing how fractions and ratios function similarly, for example, and their ability to be at the forefront of a lesson’s discussion allows them to foster these math connections much quicker.”
Hawley said that Delaware is unique in that it does not just provide new materials, but it also assists heavily in making sure the instructors know how to effectively work with such materials.
Mathematics teachers are required to go through hundreds of hours of training to understand the curriculum, review instructional strategies, and figure out how students will comprehend their lessons.
Part of this professional development requires teachers to present their curriculum in a way that is culturally responsive and inclusive to special needs students and students who speak languages other than English.
Hawley said that the state’s math curricula “helps the students gain efficacy.”