Colorado: A Progressive Approach to Mathematics
Excitement is running high around the implementation of the Progressive Mathematics Initiative® (PMI®) in Colorado’s Adams County School District 50 school district this fall, marking the first time there that students at the elementary, middle and high school levels will be using the completely coherent math program.
Last spring, the District 50 Board of Education gave its stamp of approval to a new math curriculum resource that will provide “real time” information about student progress and ensure district-wide consistency. The Initiative has already been tested in several district schools and will now be used by all students beginning in the fall.
Starting this fall, roughly 10,000 students in the Adams 50 district will be using PMI.
“This is the perfect fit for our kids,” said Adams 50 Director of Learning Services Art Drotar, who took the lead on finding a math curriculum that compliments the District’s Competency-Based System.
“PMI is totally aligned to the Colorado Academic Standards and supports mathematics from kindergarten through graduation,” he said.
Teachers with the New Jersey Center for Teaching and Learning® (CTL) developed PMI, which replaces textbooks with free digital content that can be accessed by teachers and students at home and in the classroom.
“It has great flexibility for students,” said Drotar. “Students can move ahead at their own pace.”
In the classroom, students will also use hand-held responders, to signal their understanding of material or to answer questions. It provides instant feedback to teachers who can figure when the class has grasped a concept and when more instruction is needed.
Drotar noted that the anonymous responses students post in class constantly inform the teacher, and the administration, how classes are progressing. Feedback moves students along more quickly, because teachers can concentrate instruction exactly where it is needed.
Following the Board of Education approval, the next step was to provide professional development for math teachers across the District so they are ready to use PMI.
Rosanna Satterfield, recently hired by CTL as a program manager in Colorado, conducts extensive training for teachers, facilitated by grants from the NEA, the Morgridge Family Foundation and Xcel Energy.
“After teacher training, we’ll see good teachers become confident and capable math teachers,” Satterfield said.
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