To continue to increase the number of students achieving the standard in problem solving, skills and concepts.

13% of the students were proficient as measured by the NECAP in 2007.

1. Continue to assign “Problems of the Week” that allows students to work on teams and/or groups.

1a. Continue to assign homework once a week that deals with problem solving, skills and concepts within the unit assigned. 1b. Share best practices strategies that are supported by research at department meetings. 1c. Utilize problem solving skills in all courses.

1. Continue to reserve class time during each week to devote to instruction and/or assessment of problem solving, skills and concepts.

1a. Continue to focus department meetings on examining student work as it relates to problem solving, skills and concepts. 1b. Utilize best practice strategies in all math courses to reinforce target objectives in the areas of skills, concepts and problem solving.

1c. Design appropriate assessments of problem solving skills to include open-ended questions.

1. Continue to use exemplar problems/tasks as teaching and learning tools. 1a. Increase the number of students that achieve the standard in math problem solving, skills and concepts. 1b. Increase the number of students who meet the standard on grade 11 NECAP in mathematics by closing the achievement gaps for special education students. 1c. All students will have the opportunity to meet the GSE requirements in mathematics based on common assessment results.

To continue the frequency of students' work in the area of problem solving/critical thinking in all disciplines.

1% of the students with IEPs were proficient as measured by the NECAP in 2007.

SALT Survey results show desire of faculty to incorporate this type of teaching in and across the curriculum.

2. Continue to reserve class time during each week to devote to instruction and/or assessment of problem solving in all disciplines.

2a. Continue to assign homework each week that allows students to work on problem solving within the unit school wide.

2. Have all relevant departments (esp. math, science, tech. ed.) disaggregate data in problem solving and produce plans for focusing more strongly on student needs. 2a. Focus professional development school wide on student-centered instruction using common tasks and subsequent calibration to score student work. 2b. Continue to collect portfolios of problems and solutions in both math and science. 2c. To continue formal opportunities at department meetings to look at student work with fellow department members. 2d. Continue to provide literature and materials to aid/offer examples of problem solving techniques. 2e. Focus department meetings on examining student work as it relates to problem solving strategies.

2. Each ninth, tenth and eleventh grade student will select “portfolio-worthy” problem solving work for future placement on their digital portfolio as a means of showcasing student proficiency in this area. 2a. Maintain records of progress made for evaluation purposes in the classroom. 2b. Department leaders will help provide materials for teachers to use in the classroom. 2c. Collect department meeting agenda in which “looking at student work” took place. 2d. Department leader provides literature and materials for problem solving techniques. 2e. Collect/view department meeting minutes as they relate to problem solving strategies.

2f. Expected increment of gain, as determined by mathematics and special education, over 2 years will be contingent upon the May Summit.

Engage students in activities that require them to write solutions to problems.

NEASC standard for Instruction requires that students be engaged in higher order thinking skills throughout a rigorous curriculum.

3. Continue to provide teachers with on-demand and extended tasks to evaluate problem solving techniques.

3a. Improve teachers’ and students’ understanding of the relationship between problem solving and scoring rubrics by having teachers attend workshops given by Aldo Bianchi.

3b. Publicize the meeting dates/times for “Advanced Thinking Math” classes for teachers.

3. Students will continue to be required to write solutions to on-demand tasks. 3a. Continue to use department meetings to look at student work on common tasks.

3b. The district will provide professional development on problem solving strategies tied to state expectations and provide follow-up to these activities in order to improve student problem solving and communications skills.

3c. Teachers will participate in the after school professional development  through the “Advanced Thinking Math” program.

3. Evaluate the effectiveness of the common tasks through scoring calibration opportunities. 3a. Collect department meeting agendas in which “looking at student work” took place.

3b and 3c. Expected increment of gain over two years is 250% or 45% of our students in grade 11 will be proficient in math.