LCUSD Middle School Math

 

About 7/8 Math Textbook Adoption About CMP

Other Districts Using CMP

 About GO Math!

Background

The La Cañada Unified School District (LCUSD) in Southern California is a high performing public school district comprised of three elementary schools that cover grades K through 6, one middle school for grades 7 and 8 (LCHS 7/8), and a four-year high school – La Canada High School (LCHS.) The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were adopted by the California State Board of Education (SBE) on August 2, 2010. The SBE in turn commissioned the creation of a mathematics framework for the state based on the CCSS. A framework is a type of implementation plan or blueprint for local educational agencies (LEAs) to follow. The revised CCSS compliant mathematics framework was adopted and released on November 6, 2013.

The release of the new mathematics framework allowed LEAs, including the LCUSD, to begin planning the shift in their curriculum to meet the new standards. However, this task was made difficult by the lack of state approved textbooks that were certified compliant with the new standards. The SBE did not publish an initial list of state approved instructional materials until January 15, 2014. Originally when California adopted the CCSS, the SBE required that instructional materials be purchased by  LEAs within 24 months for grades K through 8, or local governing board action (for grades 9 through 12). That meant that LEAs had to purchase CCSS-M aligned materials for grades K – 8 by  November 6, 2015. Districts all across the state, including LCUSD, began scrambling to meet the November 2015 deadline in the 2013-14 school year, even though no approved textbooks were available. Relief, however, came legislatively when the original 24 month requirement was repealed by the California legislature. That meant that there was no longer an SBE requirement to purchase CCSS-M aligned instructional materials by November 2015. Further, the legislative change also paved the way for Districts to continue using materials compliant with the previous California standards passed in 2002.

In spite of clear evidence in the 2013 to 2015 timeframe that strong opposition to the Common Core Standards was growing nationwide, the LCUSD chose a strategy of rapid adoption of CCSS-M aligned instructional materials. District staff began reviewing candidate instructional materials in the 2013-14 school year, the same year the SBE formally adopted the new mathematics framework, even though the state had not yet approved any CCSS-M aligned instructional materials.  District teachers used ad hoc supplemental resources and teacher-created materials purporting to be aligned to CCSS-M from the 2013-14 school year until the selection of a new middle-school math textbook in the 2016-17 school year.

2016-17 LCUSD 7/8 Math Textbook Selection

During the 2013-14 school year, the district began searching for Common Core aligned instructional material in mathematics and language arts. The K-6 search for CCSS-M aligned materials is described elsewhere on this site. The LCHS 7/8 math department also began a search for a new mathematics textbook and other instructional materials for grades 7 & 8 that aligned with the CCSS-M. The textbook search committee consisted of LCHS 7/8 math teachers and staff, but no parents or other community members. Since several teachers have come and gone over the three years since the textbook search began, here are the members who served on the committee:

  • Dr. Jarrett Gold – Principal LCHS 7/8
  • Anaïs Wenn – Asst. Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction
  • Charisse Bontemps – Math Teacher, School 1  (CC Math 7, CC Math 7 Adv, LC Math 1 Adv)
  • Paul Kim – Math Teacher, School 2 (CC Math 7, CC Math 7 Adv)
  • Jeenie Lee – Math Teacher, School 4 (CC Math 8, CC Math 8 Adv)
  • Samantha Wright – Math Teacher, School 3 (CC Math 8, CC Math 8 Adv)
  • Christine Dornian – Math Teacher, School ? (on leave in 2016-17 school year)

Past members:

  • Bob Huson – Math Teacher, School 3 or 4? (Honors Geometry, Adv Math Topics)
  • Morgan Savage – Former Math Teacher, School 1 (left at end of 2015-16 school year)

By December of 2017, the LCHS 7/8 math textbook selection committee had narrowed its list of candidate mathematics textbooks down to four:

  1. gomath-grade_7-thmHoughton Mifflin Harcourt: Go Math!
  2. mif_thmHoughton Mifflin Harcourt: Math in Focus: Singapore Math by Marshall Cavendish
  3. ca_math-thmMcGraw–Hill/Glencoe: California Math
  4. cmp3_cover-thmPearson: Connected Mathematics Project 3 (CMP3)

 

In addition, members of the committee began “piloting” their preferred curriculum to that point – Math In Focus: Singapore Math by Marshall Cavendish in the classroom. It should be noted that the district does not follow the California State Board of Education’s Policy for piloting, entitled the Guidelines for Piloting Textbooks and Instructional Materials (policy #01-05, adopted January 2015), which is rather rigorous and specific. Instead the district follows what can at best be called an “abbreviated” and “unrigorous” process.

Parent Participation

Parents were contacted in early December 2016 by the LCHS 7/8 principal, Dr. Jarrett Gold, and notified of the existence and activities of the LCHS 7/8 math textbook selection committee the past three years (click here to read the email to parents from Dr. Gold.) In addition, parents were invited to review the four finalist candidate mathematics textbooks at one of three parent review opportunities on January 18, January 25, and February 1, 2017. The four finalist curricula were not identified in the email at the time. At these parent review opportunities, parents were allowed to review representative samples of the four curricula and provide feedback on a one-page rating form, which were collected by school administration and summarized to the 7/8 math textbook selection committee (click here to see the rating form provided to parents.) It was later reported to the 7/8 math textbook committee that 22 parents attended one of the three parent review opportunities, and 19 parents returned the rating form. Of those 19 ratings, 16 parents rated Math In Focus first, 1 parent rated Go Math! first, 1 parent rated California Math first, and 1 parent rated CMP3 first.

In mid-January 2017, Principal Gold contacted parents of LCUSD students in grades K-7 to finally let them know the identity of the four finalist textbooks, and to announce that two parent representatives (one each from the next year’s 7th and 8th grade incoming classes) would be invited to attend the final meeting of the 7/8 math textbook selection committee where they would select their preferred math curriculum. However, parents were told that they would not be allowed to vote, only to observe the meeting and ask questions. Furthermore, the two parent spectators at the final committee meeting had to apply and be selected by district administration to attend. Click here to see the parent application form. Several parents had principled objections to this action, viewing the offer to invite parents into the process at the final meeting of a three-year process, and even then as non-voting participants and their representation chosen by district administration, as insubstantial and symbolic, in violation of educational code, Board policy, and common decency. Click here to read the joint letter from parents to Dr. Gold. The parents in their objection asked that the district administration let the parents select their own representatives to the committee, that those representatives be allowed to vote, and that in the future the parent representatives be invited on to the committee much earlier on in the textbook selection process to meet educational code and Board policy requirements. Dr. Gold never responded substantively to the letter and ignored all of the parent requests.

Dr. Gold selected the two parent representatives to the committee on February 10, 2017, neither of whom had co-signed the letter of objection, or whom had been actively involved in the parent effort to oppose the adoption of Everyday Mathematics in the Spring of 2016. It should also be noted that the names of the two parents selected to witness the final selection committee vote were never announced in any manner to parents, though their supposed purpose was to represent parents. Two principles of representative governance were blatantly violated by these actions: first, representation is meaningless if those being represented do not know who their representatives are, and second, those being represented must be allowed to select their own representatives.

The 7/8 math textbook committee makes its selection

On Tuesday, February 21, 2017, the 7/8 math textbook selection committee, along with the two appointed parent spectators, met to review their previous work of the past three years and make a final pick among the four finalist curricula. The committee voted 5-0 to select Math In Focus  as its preferred math curriculum. Click here to read the minutes of that meeting. The committee’s recommendation was presented to the district’s Governing Board in March 2017, and on April 18th, 2017 the board formally voted to adopt Math In Focus for the 2017-18 school year.

Comparative Reviews of Candidate Math Textbooks

 a. California State Board of Education Adopted Programs:

The California Department of Education reviews submitted programs for alignment to the 2013 California state framework, which in turn follows the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Click here for a complete list of programs adopted by the SBE:

  • GoMath! – YES
  • Math In Focus – YES
  • California Math – YES
  • CMP3 – NO

b. EdReports:

EdReports is an independent review organization that evaluates curricula for alignment to Common Core State Standards. Click individual reports below for EdReports summary for that program.

  • GoMath!:
    • Grade 7: Focus & Coherence: 8/14,  Rigor & Mathematical Practices: 15/18
    • Grade 8: Focus & Coherence: 12/14, Rigor & Mathematical Practices: 14/18
  • Math In Focus:
    • Grade 7: Focus & Coherence: 4/14, Rigor & Mathematical Practices: Not rated
    • Grade 8: Focus & Coherence: 12/14, Rigor & Mathematical Practices: 6/18
  • California Math: Not rated.
  • CMP3:
    • Grade 7: Focus & Coherence: 7/14,Rigor & Mathematical Practices: Not rated
    • Grade 8: Focus & Coherence: 12/14, Rigor & Mathematical Practices: 18/18

c. What Works Clearinghouse:

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) is a branch of the Institute of Education Science (IES). The IES, in turn, is the independent, non-partisan statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The WWC describes itself as “a central and trusted source of scientific evidence on education programs, products, practices, and policies. We review the research, determine which studies meet rigorous standards, and summarize the findings.” It has reviewed studies on one of the four curricula under consideration:

  • CMP: WWC found that 1 of 21 eligible studies reviewed met evidence standards “with reservations” From that one study, WWC concluded “CMP was found to have no discernible effects on mathematics achievement.” Note that this report was issued in January 2010, which would cover up to CMP version 2. Note that an additional 58 studies were reviewed, but of those 51 were not within the scope of the review protocol and the remaining 7 did not meet evidence standards.

Links To Reviews of Specific Candidate Math Textbooks: