See also:

New York State Department of Education
NYS Math Resources

Elementary and middle school teachers have a new resource in helping students reach the higher math standards. And it's as close as your local teacher center, district superintendent or BOCES office.

It's The Core Curriculum Companion for the New York State Mathematics Resource Guide, reproduced in a limited number by the State Education Department.

New York State United Teachers applauded the state's effort at providing the concrete information teachers need in math, but said it does not go far enough.

"This is a good first step," said Antonia Cortese, NYSUT's first vice president. "These are grade-appropriate, specific lesson plans that will help teachers across the state."

But they do not take the place of what teachers have been calling for - grade-by-grade core curricula in all subjects, said Paula Drake, who serves on a NYSUT committee monitoring the state's implementation of higher standards.

"This is a wonderful, wonderful source," said Drake, an adjunct math professor at SUNY Cortland and vice president of the Syracuse Teachers Association. "But it's only one lesson per key idea. To make the standards come alive, teachers need many more lessons than that."

Developed by New York City members of a math mentors group, the 226 pages contain lessons tied directly to the state's new standards in math, complete with test questions similar to the new state assessments in fourth- and eighth-grade.

Carolyn Richbart of the State Education Department's school improvement team described the curriculum companion as "high-quality, specific examples of what kids need to know and be able to do."

Key ideas

The Companion offers a classroom activity for each "key idea" outlined in the state's math resource guide. For example, a key idea for elementary students is to use patterns simply and efficiently and to begin to understand two- and three-dimensional geometry. The Companion suggests teachers use blocks to explain patterns. Experimenting with changing patterns evolves into making a chart to record the number of blocks used and predicting the number of blocks needed to continue the pattern. Vocabulary in the lesson includes rhombus, hexagon, parallelogram and trapezoid.

Richbart predicts teachers will find this companion invaluable. "These examples speak much louder than the descriptions" used in resource guides, she said.

- Betsy Sandberg

To view the Companion

For a copy of the Companion, go to your local BOCES, teacher center or your district superintendent. In New York City, go to your math director.

For a copy of the state mathematics resource guide, go to www.nysed.gov and click on resource guides. Keep in mind that you need Adobe Acrobat Reader and a printer that can handle the graphics.

Hard copies are available for a fee (usually less than $10) from the SED Publications Sales Desk, third floor, Education Building, Washington Avenue, Albany, N.Y. 12234 or call (518) 474-3806.

More math resources are available at www.amtnys.org.

Also, watch for results on the fourth- and eighth-grade math scores by late September. SED informs New York Teacher that the results will be given to schools first and to the public soon after.