School District 146 Adopts New Math Book Series

School District 146 has introduced a new math book series starting this school year. Math in Focus was introduced to District students in grades 4-5 at the beginning of the year. Grades K-3 will start the new series in early winter.

Nancy Schwab, Director of Curriculum at District 146 said, “We are so excited to bring Math in Focus to our District. Math in Focus is also known as ‘Singapore Math’, referencing its extremely rich development of manipulatives and problem-solving.”

The District put together a panel of teachers to choose the new math book set. The 2015 K-5 math series was chosen based on its alignment to the new Illinois Learning Standards and PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) content, along with supplemental materials aligned to International Standards.

Mrs. Schwab said, “Close alignment to Illinois Learning Standards and PARCC was paramount in the panel’s deciding factors, but this series offers so much more. This series focuses on first teaching math concretely with natural progression into visual and abstract thinking. The strong emphasis on math fluency and problem solving was particularly appealing to our teachers.”

The series also offers an online version allowing the District students to access their textbooks from home, along with video lessons to support parents on how to help their students at home. Mrs. Schwab said, “Teachers are sensitive to the fact that parents want to help their students, but are sometimes not sure where to start. The parental support section guides parents along.”

The District will be assisting teachers in the new book series and will roll out a time-conscious, meaningful, and well-developed guidance plan including meeting sessions with Mr. Greg Tang, the “Singapore Math” premiere expert.

The new series will be in full use by all School District 146 K-5 students by fall 2015.