Union Elementary teachers report positive early results from Ready Math rollout

Union Elementary teachers reported early successes and some concerns after adopting a new Ready Math curriculum, telling the RSU 40 School Board that the program has improved daily math conversation and made lesson planning more consistent.

Valen Bernaska, who teaches fifth and sixth grades, said the curriculum’s daily slides and low-floor/high-ceiling tasks have increased student participation and vocabulary use: “The math slides are already done for you every single day… So we start every class with our learning target,” Bernaska said. Bernaska described a two-year loop with fifth graders in the morning and sixth graders in the afternoon and added that students now “come to the board every day” to solve and discuss problems.

Karen Isaacs, a first-grade teacher, summarized staff survey feedback on the district’s ELA materials and instruction. Isaacs said staff find the program organized and comprehensive but noted drawbacks: long unit tests that require repeated sitting, occasional mismatches with students’ reading levels, and concerns about the phonics and writing components.

Teachers reported using several supports alongside Ready Math. Bernaska and others said the district continues to use online tools such as ALEKS and Lexia for individualized practice and fluency; they cautioned that Lexia certificates do not always reflect underlying proficiency. Bernaska said the diagnostic assessment included with the new curriculum runs three times a year and has provided useful student data, but that kindergarten staff reported the program felt heavy on reading and sometimes difficult for younger students to follow.

Board members and teachers also discussed attendance and scheduling challenges that affect sequential curricula. Bernaska and Isaacs said frequent absences, two‑hour delays and block scheduling can break the lesson progression—when lessons build daily, missing early instruction makes catching up difficult. “When they miss the introduction, there just isn’t the time built in to reintroduce that to them the next day,” Bernaska said.

The district plans to continue monitoring pacing, attendance impacts and how diagnostic data inform instruction. Teachers invited board members to visit classrooms and review student-facing work.

The board approved the minutes from Jan. 8 and moved on to a presentation from the district’s special education directors.