Pilot Process

In the spring of 2002, a Math Steering Committee was formed to review the district math curriculum and respond to teacher needs. The Math Steering Committee was comprised of regular and special education teachers from all elementary schools, elementary principals, secondary math supervisors, and the department supervisor of basic skills.

 The committee selected four standards based math programs for review:  Everyday Mathematics, Growing with Mathematics, Investigations and Math Trailblazers.  In early 2003, the committee began a thorough analysis of the programs.  Teachers reviewed materials, visited sites that implemented the programs, asked insightful questions about the programs and began to form opinions about which two of the four programs should be piloted during the 2003-2004 school year.

 Investigations and Math Trailblazers  were the two programs chosen by the committee for teachers to pilot.  The K-5 pilot teachers met in May 2003 to learn about the two programs that would be piloted.  A total of 92 K-5 teachers participated in the pilot program and received professional development to assist them with the pilot process.

At the end of this process, the K-5 pilot teachers were asked to complete a Final Evaluation Survey to determine which of the two programs best met the NCTM and CT Standards.  Responses to the Final Evaluation Survey strongly favored Math Trailblazers over Investigations. 

This led to the adoption of Math Trailblazers for grades K-5.