The Brunswick School Board has adopted this K-5 mathematics program, modeled after the “Singapore Math” which has made Singapore a top performing nation on international comparison studies for the past 15 years. Math In Focus is solidly aligned with the Common Core of Standards and emphasizes (all are recommended by the Common Core of Standards):
- Curriculum must be focused and coherent.
- Teach to Mastery.
- Focus on Number, Geometry, and measurement in the elementary grades.
- Organize content by big ideas, such as place value.
- Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
- Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
- Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
- Model with Mathematics.
- Use appropriate tools strategically.
- Attend to precision.
- Look for and make use of structure.
- Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Students will have Math In Focus books/workbooks as well as other supporting resources. Several school systems in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts have adopted this program as well, and the Brunswick School Department will collaborate with the Scarborough School System as that school system has been engaged with the Math In Focus program for the past school year. Our classroom teachers will be engaged in a three-year intensive staff development program and taught by Math In Focus instructional specialists who have worked in hundreds of classrooms. Teachers will be trained in the Math In Focus pedagogy with emphasis on students demonstrating mastery of the skills being taught. They will observe demonstration lessons as well as construct and implement Math In Focus lessons. They will be coached by experts steeped in the Singapore Math methodology and receive timely feedback. Teachers will learn how to better meet the needs of the diverse variety of learners found in each classroom.
The Math In Focus has both a Parent Meeting and Administrator Leadership training component to provide greater understanding of the program by parents and to garner administrative leadership support for the program.
To learn more about the Math In Focus program, go to: http://www.hmheducation.com/singaporemath/