Newport-Mesa may get new K-5 math program, but Swun Math could stay in 6th grade for now

Kindergartners through fifth-graders in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District may use new math materials by next school year, but sixth-graders could continue using Swun Math, a program that teachers and parents have complained is filled with errors.

The school board heard presentations Tuesday night from John Drake, district director of curriculum and instruction, and four elementary school teachers who are part of a steering committee put together to select math materials that best support Common Core State Standards. The committee of about 140 teachers districtwide tested math materials through a seven-month pilot process.

The consensus among kindergarten through fifth-grade teachers was to use Bridges in Mathematics by the Math Learning Center, a nonprofit founded by a math professor and curriculum director in Oregon.

Sixth-grade teachers decided it was best to use current materials from Swun Math for an additional year to allow time for more piloting in collaboration with middle school teachers.

The recommended math materials are on display in the district office through May 23. District trustees are expected to decide whether to adopt Bridges in Mathematics during their meeting that day.

Teachers recommended Bridges in Mathematics over another piloted program, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Go Math, because it would help “foster math wisdom” for students, said Debra Muniz, a Sonora Elementary School fifth-grade teacher who is part of the steering committee.

“Bridges will take some time to master,” Muniz said, describing the program as cumbersome for teachers and requiring a lot of preparation and patience. “But we didn’t choose what was best for ourselves, but for our students.”

Bridges in Mathematics is a K-5 curriculum that implements Common Core State Standards by blending “direct instruction, structured investigation and open exploration,” according to its website.

“Bridges requires students to explain how they reached their answer,” said Michelle Ryan, a third-grade teacher at Pomona Elementary School.

During the pilot program, “I found myself talking less and the kids explaining more,” she said.

Bridges is being used in 30 districts, including in Rocklin and Denver. Palo Alto Unified is in the same process as Newport-Mesa, Drake said.

If Bridges is adopted by the board, teachers will get immediate online access, and orders for program materials would be placed the same day.

Meanwhile, sixth-grade teachers piloted Eureka Math by Great Minds, a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit, and Digits by Pearson, a primarily online program, said Stephanie Laquin, a teacher at Newport Heights Elementary School.

Digits is easy to deliver, Laquin said, but often left students more confused and requiring more help.

Eureka provided students with conceptual understanding and enabled teachers to gradually build on lessons, but it lacked diversity, Laquin said.

“We knew there wouldn’t be a perfect program, but we’re not curriculum writers,” Laquin said.

Sixth-grade teachers couldn’t recommend either program and instead requested an additional year to pilot a program with middle school teachers.

Associate Supt. Russell Lee-Sung said sixth-grade students will continue to use Swun Math for now.

Board President Karen Yelsey and Newport-Mesa Federation of Teachers President Britt Dowdy commended the teachers for their “courageous decision” to keep searching for suitable math materials.

But Erica Roberts, a parent at Mariners Elementary School, said: “A year ago you said teachers have to have materials, and here we are a year later. What will sixth-graders use? It cannot be Swun again.”

The district has paid Swun Math more than $2.1 million for math materials and coaching for teachers and principals since 2013, according to district documents.

The district expects to spend millions for the next program, Lee-Sung said.

The district chose Swun because it offered a consistent, step-by-step process for teaching, along with excellent coaching and professional development, according to Kurt Suhr, district director of elementary education.

Suhr said the cost of of Swun Math is much lower than using traditional textbooks. Swun uses workbooks instead of textbooks.

But parents have urged trustees to look at other Common Core-based math materials, saying Swun Math is filled with errors.

Last year, a dump truck with a red painted sign reading “Dump Swun now, kids deserve better” sat outside during a board meeting.

In 2015, the district requested that a panel of 11 teachers perform what administrators called “edits” to the materials to fix mistakes.

Carrie Mitchell, Swun Math program director, said the Common Core math curriculum is new for the company and that when it finds errors and typos, it posts the corrections on its website.

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