ARIZONAN TO PRESENT AT MODEL SCHOOL CONFERENCE IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

Shannon Ferguson, elementary mathematics specialist with Peoria Unified School District (PUSD), will share her passion for math at the 15th Annual Model Schools Conference in Washington, D.C. June 29 to July 3. Ferguson is the only Arizona educator invited to present at the International Center for Leadership in Education’s signature event.Shannon Ferguson, elementary mathematics specialist with Peoria Unified School District (PUSD), will share her passion for math at the 15th Annual Model Schools Conference in Washington, D.C. June 29 to July 3. Ferguson is the only Arizona educator invited to present at the International Center for Leadership in Education’s signature event.

Ferguson will share “Effecting Change in Mathematics Curriculum While Positively Affecting Change in Instructional Practices” with national leaders in education this summer. She wrote the proposal in response to state, national and international studies indicating that math achievement in students from the United States were ranking far below students from other countries. Ferguson will speak to the curricular changes that were initiated and implemented from 2003-06 in PUSD and share the remarkable results that validate the immediate and continued success of these changes.

Ferguson has always loved mathematics. She hoped to teach middle school children, but when she completed her degree in 1981, there were no junior high positions available. As a result, she embarked upon an educational journey, teaching a variety of grade levels, spanning second- through eleventh-grades. In 1997, she finally landed her dream job as an eighth-grade math teacher in PUSD.

Working across the grade level gamut, Ferguson saw the need for, and developed, a school-wide plan that allowed for vertical alignment of math objectives. Because her local plan was so successful, she was asked to work at the District level and replicate her ideas and plans across PUSD. She currently works to modify curriculum and to train teachers in this new method. She continues to teach students part of each day to tweak the math map as needed.

Ferguson advocates for rigorous, consistent standards that do not always align with textbooks. A district curriculum map was constructed to ensure objectives were timely, appropriate, seamless and workable. The committee concentrated on outside influences, such as calendar schedules and school distractions, so that all teachers would be satisfied with the units of study and the timelines. Actual lesson models were created so that teachers would have instructional materials in their hands. The lessons included teacher notes and information, corresponding student notes and practice worksheets. A standard format and vocabulary was included.

Over the past three years, increasingly successful PUSD math scores have been validated through data. Test scores from the Arizona Department of Education have improved dramatically. Most impressive are the eighth-grade math scores, where, in 2003 only 21 percent of the Peoria eighth-graders passed the mathematics portion of the AIMS exam. By 2006, 79 percent of the students passed, exceeding the Arizona percentage of 63 percent. Similar improvements were seen in other grade levels.

“I recognized the need for a consistent, uniform math curriculum throughout our District,” stated Ferguson. “This would help us be sure we were teaching all state requirements. It would help teachers plan their lessons with support. It would also help students who move from school to school to keep up.”

The Model Schools Conference will showcase high schools, middle grades’ programs and elementary schools that are highly successful at providing every student with a rigorous and relevant education. Identifying and analyzing the schools are part of a major joint initiative of the International Center for Leadership in Education and the Council of Chief State School Officers, with financial support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.