Numeracy Support

A math intervention program to help students at risk of not passing Math 10 is in place at our school and it is getting positive reviews from the students taking part. After three months the students taking part are giving it a thumbs up saying they value the class and that it is fun. They had comments such as:“ I used to be down about math and now I am really good at it”. “Math is making sense now.” “I am improving in my regular class.” “I even help others in regular math class.” “It’s a lot of math in a week but I am improving in class.” Principal Denise Moore said her staff, working with Pleasant Valley Secondary School staff, identified successful completion of Math 10 as a barrier to graduation. She noted that students who struggled with math throughout elementary and middle school were often ending up on the Evergreen path, rather than a Dogwood. They decided to provide intervention for struggling math students by increasing the amount of math instruction the students had each week. Three math specialty teachers took one of the grade 6, 7, or 8 intervention groups. The groups meet three times a week where the students preview the critical concepts before the students take it in their regular math class. Mrs. Moore comments that trying to fit this extra time in to the student timetable has been a lesson in planning creativity, with the whole school being very flexible to ensure the program is successful. She thanks District Principal (Numeracy) Val Edgell as well as Kim Poirier, Eric Evanoff and Stuart Matthews, the school’s three math intervention teachers for the extra work they put into planning with the classroom teachers to ensure consistency of strategies, curriculum, and constant communication about how the students are doing. One of the key pieces was the development of a scope and sequence in order for this program to succeed. This important work was completed by LWMS Numeracy teachers with support from Edgell and Doug Smith.