Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the K 12 Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mark Hook students demonstrate new daily math 'target time' as foundation-funded toolkits arrive
Summary
At a Goshen Local Schools board meeting, Mark Hook Elementary staff and students showcased a new math 'target time' intervention and demonstrated hands-on kits funded by the Goshen Education Foundation. Administrators highlighted early results and asked the district to consider expanding math intervention time.
Mark Hook Elementary teachers and students demonstrated a new daily math "target time" and the hands-on kits that the Goshen Education Foundation purchased during the Goshen Local Board of Education meeting.
The school's building principal, Miss Lawrence, told the board the target-time model provides small-group math intervention and enrichment. "We are very excited to be here...to showcase the wonderful math instruction that's taking place every day at Mark Hook Elementary," she said, and described kindergarten through second-grade scheduling that gives kindergarten and first-grade students math-focused intervention two days a week and other grades a mix of intervention and enrichment.
Nut graf: The presentation paired student demonstrations with district data and a foundation-funded materials donation. School staff said the combination of targeted small-group instruction and ready-to-use toolkits is producing measurable growth for many students and argued the district should consider more math intervention time.
Teachers showed students using the kits in class. Mrs. Kim Haas, a kindergarten teacher identified in the presentation, guided children through counting and representation activities using 10-frames and counting cubes. One kindergartener, Adelaide, told the group, "I like math because I like the numbers." The classroom demonstration showed students forming equations and using manipulatives to represent numbers (for example, 10 + 4 to show 14).
Miss Lawrence cited district benchmark figures presented to the board: 316 students received math target time in the fall; the presenter said 289 of those students showed growth, which the presentation described as 91 percent. The school asked the board to consider expanding math intervention time beyond the current 2 days per week in kindergarten and first grade.
The Goshen Education Foundation followed the classroom demonstration with an update. Chelsea Hornsby of the foundation told the board the foundation has gifted "nearly $100,000" since its inception and outlined current and planned support: teacher grants (about $6,000 this school year), scholarships (three $2,000 awards planned this year), a new $2,500 "blue collar" scholarship, and several fundraising events (a Red and Gray Soiree on March 29, a golf outing July 25, and a Boots, Bourbon and Barbecue event planned for October). Hornsby said the foundation sponsored the classroom math toolkits now in use at Mark Hook.
Board members and administrators praised the teachers and students for the demonstration. The presentation closed with certificates and a brief recognition of the students who participated.
Ending: The district's presenters said early results are promising and flagged expansion of math target time as a possible next step; the board did not take a formal vote on expanding math intervention in this meeting.
