State-wide revised K-8 math standards will raise the bar on math curriculum in Bremerton School District (BSD) classrooms.

Approved by the State Board of Education (SBE) April 28, the revisions call for educators to take a clear, rigorous and measurable approach toward math instruction.

“I am thrilled by the state board’s green light,” State Superintendent Terry Bergeson said in a statement released by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). “Not only does this bring us closer to teaching students the math we know they need to be successful, it also validates the incredibly hard work of the many people who created these rigorous standards.”

Teachers and administrators in BSD will spend the 2008-09 school year developing a plan on how they’ll shift their lesson plans to fit the new standards.

BSD special assignment teacher Laura Bay said BSD math teachers this year will focus on concepts, procedures and processes and receive job-site training, all to better understand and align their curriculum to meet the new standards.

The new standards, Bay added, call for instructors to teach with greater depth and more rigor, increasing the fluency and accuracy by which students learn.

“There’s still a lot of work to do, but we are very excited for the future,” Bergeson said. “We now have world-class math standards in place, and we are committed to making sure our math teachers have the knowledge and the materials they need to effectively teach those standards to our kids.”

The state offered two four-day training sessions over the summer to help teachers gear for the changes, according to Bay.

“The state has already trained a group of elementary teachers on the new standards and how to communicate them to their districts,” she said.

The adoption of the new standards culminates a process that began when the 2007 Legislature asked for a review of the current math standards, according to OSPI, and were revised twice before being sent to the state Legislature for approval on Feb. 28, 2008.