Scott County Schools Math Department featured in "Spotlight on the Schools" article in the October 17, 2024, E-Edition of The Independent Herald on pages 28 and 29.
About four years ago, the district leaders at the Scott County School System recognized the need for an increased emphasis on mathematics instruction across all grade levels in our district. As the world around us changes, the mathematics skillset our students need to be successful as they enter the job force, trade schools, and colleges is also changing. The Scott County School System began implementing a strategic plan to better support our school leaders, teachers and students. The ultimate goal of this initiative is that our students will become stronger mathematicians and problem solvers, better preparing them for success after they finish their education.
Currently, the work being done in the mathematics department is being facilitated by district math coaches. Melissa Roberts works full time as the District K-5 Math Coach. Tony Duncan serves the district as the District Technology Trainer, but also drives this initiative as the Grades 6-12 Math Coach. Just this year, the department also pulled in Tonja Bond , current TN All Corps Supervisor and EIS Supervisor, to help support and assist math teachers specifically in Grades 6-8. These three, along with Principals, Instructional Coaches, Director of Schools Bill Hall, Supervisor of Instruction Linda Keeton, and Assistant Directors Amanda Stevens and Vince Owens have all committed to helping teachers best prepare our students. These leaders also meet often with Math Support Personnel at the State Department of Education (EastCore) to track the progress of our program.
Math Classroom Changes
Although several district personnel support the wonderful progress the Math Department has made, the real work is being done inside individual math classrooms all across the system. Teachers are going above and beyond to make sure their mathematics instruction is top notch. Teachers have a renewed focus and commitment to teaching mathematics at a deep, conceptual level using Problem Based techniques from Preschool through 12th grade.
Classroom Math teachers at all six elementary/middle schools as well as the High School participate in monthly planning and prepping sessions. In these sessions, teachers collaborate with their colleagues and their math coach to plan their instructional units, align their teaching and assessment to State Math Standards, decompose state math success performance indicators, and discuss current achievement and growth data. Additionally, many teachers even attend monthly after-school Math Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings where they dive into all the ways to best use their High-Quality Instructional Materials, the Best Practices for teaching specific math skills, and share resources with teachers in their grade level. The past two summers, almost 90% of Scott County Math Teachers even gave up part of their summer break to attend multi-day Math Professional Development and Training sessions.
Scott County classroom math teachers regularly welcome state, school, and district leaders into their classrooms for learning walks. These walks allow those leaders to see our teachers successfully using great teaching strategies, as well as providing an opportunity for the district to receive feedback on ways to improve student learning even more. These walks help us when planning future learning and professional development for our teachers.
Even though Scott County Schools have seen unprecedented growth in their MAP and TCAP scores, they are not finished yet. The teachers in this district are doing amazing work, and the students are reaping the benefits. These teachers are working hard to ensure their students are engaged in high level math lessons daily. If you happen to see your child’s math teacher, take a moment to thank them for all they are doing to make your student successful!
---Melissa Roberts, District Math Coach