Lane County joins national project

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Lane ESD is one of only four sites nationwide participating in the 2006-2007 Math-In-CTE Technical Assistance Program, an innovative project developed by The National Research Center for Career and Technical Education (NRCCTE) at the University of Minnesota, in consultation with the United States Department of Education Office of Vocational and Adult Education.

Math-in-CTE utilizes a new professional development and teacher leadership model that pairs a career and technical education (CTE) teacher with a high school math teacher to explicitly teach and reinforce math concepts in the given career field. Nationally, the initiative has involved over 200 teachers and 4,000 students in 12 states. Results demonstrated students raised achievement scores by 28% and 14% on two national standardized tests of math.

The need to raise Oregon's high school math achievement is significant. At the end of 2004-05, less than half of the state's high school students met the state's standard for math achievement while 60% of high school students met standards for science, 55% met standards for writing, and 53% met standards for reading.

In Lane County, of the 16 public school districts, 10 districts reported 50% or less of their 10th graders meeting the Oregon math standard. The Oregon Quality Education Commission report to the legislature in 2005 stated, "High schools have the potential for the greatest improvement because the proportion of students meeting 10th grade benchmark standards is the lowest of all benchmark levels." And math is the lowest scoring academic subject among all Oregon high school students.

The NRCCTE agrees: "Too many students leave high school without the math skills needed for further education and required by employers. While high school students are taking more math courses, the (math) performance of 17 year-olds on the National Assessment of Educational Progress has shown little improvement over the past three decades."

Lane ESD launched the local pilot program with a five-day training session in August with a team from the National Research Center providing technical assistance. This same team will provide ongoing assistance over the course of the academic year.

Participating high schools bring a diversity of experiences and circumstances to the project, which focuses on manufacturing. CTE instructors include: Tina Dworakowski (Crow High School), Lee Kounovsky (Churchill Alternative High School), Norman Eigner (Thurston High School), Joanne Kuhlein (Thurston High School), Mark Durbin (Siuslaw High School), Larry Robbins (Colton High School in Clackamas County), and Steve Shilling (New Bridge High School in Grants Pass).  Math instructors include Krin Hunt (Crow High School), Theresa Hilkey (Churchill High School), Regine Childs (Sheldon High School), Pat Peterson (McKenzie High School), Cody Johnson (Junction City High School), and Allan Bruner (Colton High School).

The math enhanced lessons developed by these instructors will be used in their classrooms beginning in the fall and again in the spring.  Data will be collected to measure gains made by students participating in the math-enhanced curriculum. Results will be compared to those from a similar class that does not have the same math concepts and lessons embedded into its curriculum.  Stay tuned to see the remarkable results in our state!