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| Jacqueline Burns, Arjan Khalsa, and Janita Ford | |
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"It's our job to wash the feet of educators, to serve the needs of everyone who is an educator, " professes
Arjan Khalsa. He is truly serving the needs of elementary educators through his creation of Conceptua Fractions, an online Common Core fractions curriculum that
transforms the teaching and learning of mathematics. The program now
includes integrated teacher supports, guided lessons for teaching
division with fractions, mathematical investigations, and much more.
Tonight I saw compelling research based on the use of
conceptuamath.com in 15 states, 99 schools, 557 classrooms, 18,250 licenses and 250,000 completed lessons. There were significant, measurable gains in
- student achievement in the NF standards,
- teachers' and students' conceptual understanding of fractions,
- use of productive talk moves by teachers, and
- students' use of productive talk moves in mathematics as well as in other content areas.
So now, Janita and I began to brainstorm:
*What if this year's CRCT scores reflect a need for additional support with the NF standards?
*What if at least three elementary schools in each of our learning communities commit to the purchase and use of Conceptua Fractions with fidelity during the 2013-2014 school year?
*What if we would provide ongoing professional learning opportunities, support, monitoring, and feedback to those schools throughout the year?
*What if...
This decision is bigger than the both of us, so we'll take it to the "drawing board". Like Arjan, we want to serve the needs of our teachers. Conceptua math could help us fulfill this mission.
