Rockford schools report limited implementation of integrated math, pledge more coaching and checks

Rockford Public Schools administrators presented the district’s integrated-high-school-math update to the board’s performance monitoring committee, saying the curriculum and instructional resource are aligned to state standards but that consistent classroom implementation remains the district’s main problem.

Heidi Dettman, a district administrator who led the presentation, said integrated math uses the same high-school standards as the traditional algebra–geometry–algebra 2 pathway but sequences them across three years so students see concepts multiple times. “Integrated math is a way of presenting the same topics…in a more natural three‑year sequence that gives kids an opportunity to have exposure to how algebra, geometry, and algebra 2 are related,” Dettman said.

Dettman told the board the curriculum task force recommended the integrated approach after review in 2017 and the district initially rolled the CPM (College Preparatory Mathematics) resource out beginning in 2018. She said a curriculum audit this fall found the district’s materials and the CPM resource include the state standards, but…