The principles and content of geometry haven’t changed, but administrators in Indian Prairie School District 204 are proposing updates to align the way they teach the subject to middle and high school students.
The proposed changes would even out the sequence of core geometry concepts — in case students need to switch tracks at a semester break to find an appropriate level of challenge — and would result in new course materials for the geometry essentials and regular geometry courses at the high school level.
New geometry resource proposed for regular, essentials levels
Purchasing a new set of textbooks and six years of digital access for geometry and geometry essentials classes is estimated to cost $180,000, said Barbi Chisholm, director of middle school curriculum, at a recent IPSD 204 board meeting.
The district plans to buy “Reveal Math: Geometry” from publisher McGraw Hill. The book comes with an adaptive digital resource, which can tailor content to student needs and help keep algebra skills sharp — even while focusing on the geometric world of shapes.
Administrators plan to seek approval of the purchase during the next school board meeting on March 23.
Pending approval, administrators will then finalize course pacing updates and conduct training for teachers, District Math Coordinator Jessica Bogie said.
Best honors geometry resource comes from 1991
Although a new resource is in the works for the regular and essentials levels of geometry, the book in use at the honors level, called “Geometry for Enjoyment and Challenge,” is recommended to remain unchanged. Bogie said this comes despite the fact that the book is out of print, and its “new edition” came out in 1991.
“The problem sets and different levels of rigor are nonexistent in any other resources that we’ve looked at,” Bogie said. “This analytical geometry course better prepares students for higher-level math courses they’re going to see in our district.”
School board members were surprised but pleased to hear that a 35-year-old resource is still the best fit.
“It’s refreshing to hear that this textbook is really what we want, so our community knows, we’re not always just going out and buying a new textbook every time,” school board President Laurie Donahue told administrators. “Thank you for taking a hard look at all of these resources and selecting the ones that are best for our community.”
Aligning instruction to district plans, goals
The board also thanked administrators for working to align geometry instruction to the district’s strategic plan, equity plan and Portrait of a Graduate framework.
“You’re taking this as an opportunity to make sure we’re fully aligned to the standards, that we’re looking at our current instructional practices across the school system and making sure we’re aligning the pacing,” school board member Mark Rising said.
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