Under the guidance of Curriculum Director Dan Johnson and with the support, input and effort of teaching staff, the Lake Superior School District is working to acquire curriculum that supports student engagement and learning and that specifically addresses some of the concerns about learning deficits that resulted from the outbreak of Covid-19.
Much of the recent focus has been on finding and piloting research-based math curriculum at both the primary and secondary levels that have a track record of improving student numeracy skills. Across the country, math skills took the biggest hit for all K-12 students during the height of the Covid pandemic. District teachers who were part of the pilot program report that the results of their efforts have brought the majority of students who were part of the pilot up to expected grade level achievement.
The math curriculum that was approved by the Board for use with K-5 students is called Bridges Math. There were two curricula that were piloted with secondary students. The Carnegie curriculum was approved by the Board for students in 6th grade through the pre-calculus level. Both Curriculums are rigorous and are designed to provide engaging student learning activities. Both not only address numeracy skills but include lesson applications that help boost both reading and writing skills. In addition, both curriculums pair well with each other which will be beneficial to students in all grades.
The Board thanked both administrators and teachers for all the time and effort they put into finding and testing out the math curriculum materials. Moving forward, a similar process will be employed to acquire curricular materials for other academic disciplines.
A special meeting is scheduled for Sunday, March 19th at 3:00 PM at Two Harbors High School. The meeting will be held in the school auditorium and will feature Senator Grant Hauschild and Representative Natalie Zeleznikar. The public is encouraged to attend.