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Teacher Professional Development and School Improvement

One of Oak Haven’s goals to improve math achievement includes teacher participation in professional development on improving our students’ math and problem solving skills.  Deb Armitage, our visiting consultant, is a mathematics specialist from Vermont who has worked on the NECAP test design, Everyday Math assessments, and the development of “Exemplars” for problem solving.

Part of our School Improvement Plan is to continue reviewing the NECAP mathematics results so everyone is clear on how we can best use the information in that report to improve our students’ performance in math using updated Everyday Math assessments and  “Exemplars” to focus on problem solving.

To be successful in life, Oak Haven students must be able to:

• apply skills and concepts to problem-solving situations and

• to communicate their thinking to others.  

In an effort to help Oak Haven students achieve their fullest potential and learn critical life skills, we use Exemplars problems in math.  Below are suggestions for ways you can help your children become successful problem solvers and communicators.

Encourage Them to Solve Problem

Students who do demanding work and solve real problems achieve at higher levels than students who do not. Exemplars offers sample problems at different grade levels that you can use with your children.

Help Them to Become Good Self-Assessors

Children who are good self-assessors achieve at higher levels than students who do not self-assess.  The “Exemplars” Website has rubrics that children can use to assess their own performance. There are also benchmark papers that are models of different levels of performance. Show these to your children. Ask them to evaluate these papers and then ask them how they can make each one better.

Practice Scoring Sample Student Work

Students can gain experience by evaluating other students work. They can practice online with Exemplars scoring tutorial. Here, they can evaluate samples and compare their assessments to Exemplars.

 

To review Exemplars sample material and benchmark papers. You can view a web-based version by clicking on any of the grade level links below: