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Grand Island board approves up to $95,000 for K–5 math curriculum pilot
Summary
The Grand Island Public Schools Board approved funding to pilot two elementary math programs next school year after staff presented data showing widening proficiency gaps and broad teacher support for a pilot. The board approved up to $95,000 to buy pilot materials and support teacher needs.
The Grand Island Public Schools Board of Education approved a motion to fund a year-long K–5 math curriculum pilot, authorizing up to $95,000 from L4L (Learning for Life) funds to purchase materials and support professional learning.
The pilot will run in four buildings next school year — Lincoln, Newell, Sully Park and Skills Academy — and will test two curricula: Amplify/Desmos Math and Great Minds’ Eureka Squared. The district plans to involve 1,400 students and 66 teachers in the pilot and to return next year with a recommendation for adoption.
District curriculum coordinator Daniel Berman told the board the decision followed a multi-step process under district policy 73.20: a resource needs assessment, stakeholder review, a diverse selection committee and a field test. “We narrowed our options to around six resources and then to these two,” Berman said. He told trustees the two finalists align with the district’s math commitments and provide embedded supports for discourse, differentiation and family materials.
Berman presented district benchmark and state comparison data showing a widening gap between Grand Island Public Schools and state math proficiency in third through fifth grades. “In third grade it was an 8 percent gap, fourth was 8 percent, fifth was 9 percent,” Berman said of older data; he then noted those gaps had grown in recent years. Teacher stakeholder groups overwhelmingly recommended moving forward: 92 percent of the teacher stakeholder group supported a pilot; coaches were unanimously in favor.
Caitlin Jensen, an academic support coach at Howard Elementary, and Andrea Hermann, a first-grade teacher at Shoemaker, described the committee work and the criteria used to evaluate materials, emphasizing alignment to state standards, rigor and support for English learners and students with special needs. Jensen said teams examined fall–winter–spring patterns in benchmark data and concluded the current resource did not sustain gains through the year.
Board members asked about the evaluation plan for the pilot. Berman said the district will triangulate quantitative and qualitative evidence: standards-based benchmark proficiency, MAP growth, frequent teacher feedback forms (three short questions every two weeks), classroom observations and student-level measures. “It has to be multi-encompassing, triangulated, including both quantitative and qualitative data,” Berman said.
A line-item breakdown in the presentation proposed roughly $43,000 for materials for Sully Park and Skills Academy, about $37,000 for Lincoln and Newell, plus a contingency fund for additional professional learning or materials based on teacher-identified needs. Berman said some professional learning will be provided by the vendors at reduced or no cost for the pilot.
Mr. Barcinas moved to approve the funding for the pilot as presented; Mr. Holly seconded. The motion passed.
The board will receive committee reports and pilot data next year before any final adoption vote. Berman said early ordering could allow teacher materials to arrive before summer so teachers can prepare over break.
