Bernards Schools Plan For New Math Supervisor and Annin Math Program

The Bernards Township Board of Education on Monday night heard plans about changes to the middle school school math program to bring it in line with new state "common core" standards, as presented by Marian Palumbo, the supervisor of mathematics for all township schools.

The board also officially accepted the retirement of Palumbo at the end of this school year. Palumbo said she has been a math educator for 38 years.

Kristen Wolff, now a math teacher at was appointed to become the next districtwide Supervisor of Mathematics. 

While required common core math changes already have been implemented in math programs at the elementary school and high school, the changes at the William Annin Middle School will be incorporated during the 2013-14 school year, Palumbo said. 

Fewer concepts, greater depth of understanding planned

The changes to the middle school program will include a greater emphasis on fewer concepts, content changes and increased rigor and depth of understanding, Palumbo said.

The new standards, called the Common Core Standards, include two key features: mathematical practices and content domain, according to Palumbo. The mathematical practices focus on making sense of problems and persevering in solving them, whereas the content domain involves specific topics to be covered, such as probability and statistics. 

Palumbo said that although the core standards do not recommend a seventh grade Algebra I program, which William Annin currently offers for advanced students, the district will continue to offer that class. 

The proposal presented by Palumbo requires the addition of a six-week math cycle to the sixth-grade curriculum in math. In order to make room for this new cycle, the writing cycle will be eliminated.

Karen Hudock, the principal of William Annin, told the school board there were “only very few options that we could look for” in order to create more time for the math program.

A math cycle also will be added for seventh graders by eliminating the technical fabrication cycle. The other cycles that will remain include art, computers, creative engineering, foods, and technology education.

Hudock said that the large amount of overlap between what is covered in the technical fabrication cycle and other classes was one of the primary reasons the technical fabrication cycle was chosen to be cut. 

In order to implement this change, Hudock said that a new curriculum will need to be written, along with staff adjustments and hiring.

One board member expressed concern about students who will need to be pulled out from their math classes to attend band, orchestra or chorus. She said that while it may be easy to make up missed time for other cycles, such as art or foods, it may be harder to make up consistently missed math classes.

Hudock responded by saying she and Palumbo were weighing four or five options to address this problem, such as using the delayed lunch period as a music study hall instead. However, she added, they “haven’t solidified anything yet.”

Another board member said she worries that current sixth graders, who will enter seventh grade next fall, will not be adequately prepared for the more rigorous math curriculum. 

Another different board member expressed concern that the seventh grade math program will become more difficult even though, "There are still students who struggle now.” 

In response, Palumbo said that the middle school has allowed for more time for math homework in order to accommodate the increased rigor. 

Board member Mike Byrne, noting that his “life is math and numbers,” commended Palumbo on her presentation and her enthusiasm, but said that the program is “new and it’s not tested. "We’re gonna have damage along the way," he said, adding he would vote against the proposal.

Palumbo said the school may need to “massage” the program over the next few years to make it work. Byrne responded that the school might instead "have to rescue" the program.

Palumbo acknowledged the difficulty of implementing the new standards while working within the constraints of a system already in place, but added: "That’s what we call problem solving. If it were easy, it wouldn’t be a problem.”