Bossier Parish Schools has selected Zearn's elementary math curriculum—Zearn Math—for a district-wide K–5 adoption. Zearn Math is a comprehensive curriculum designed to support daily differentiation and engagement for all students. The curriculum will be used in all twenty-one Bossier elementary schools starting in the 2018–19 academic year.
Part of the selection criteria for adopting Zearn Math was curricular ratings; Zearn Math is rated a Tier 1 educational resource by the Louisiana Department of Education and is one of only four elementary math curricula to receive a top "green" rating across all review criteria from EdReports.org, an independent nonprofit that conducts evidence-based reviews of instructional materials. Julie Dupree, curriculum supervisor at Bossier, noted, "At Bossier, we believe all children should have the opportunity to develop to their full potential. Key to that development is ensuring all students learn with high-quality curricula. Zearn Math is a top-rated curriculum that provides our students with a coherent and rigorous math learning experience and is designed with embedded remediation, so all students can learn their grade-level math content."
Bossier Parish Schools made their 2018–19 curriculum selection after piloting Zearn Math for the 2017–18 school year. After seeing the way teachers and students embraced the new curriculum, Bossier Parish Schools made the decision to officially expand adoption of Zearn Math to all twenty-one of its elementary schools. "I've never seen students so engaged and excited about math. Students are excited to work on their Zearn Lessons and proud of their math achievement each day. Our teachers love that Zearn Math provides aligned materials for both teacher-led instruction and digital instruction and that the classroom model allows them to spend more time with each student," noted Cathi Slack, curriculum coordinator for Bossier Parish Schools.
In addition to district-wide adoption of Zearn Math curricular materials, Bossier Parish Schools is also rolling out Zearn Professional Development (PD) to support all teachers in implementing the new curriculum. All teachers will have access to Zearn's on-demand PD platform, which offers year-long, interactive training sessions that school teams can use to build expertise on implementing and teaching the Zearn Math curriculum. Zearn's Chief Academic Officer, Stephanie Ely, remarked, "So often, professional development for teachers involves an offsite training at the beginning of year, and then teachers are faced with the ongoing challenge of planning math instruction across a range of learning needs. With Zearn Math PD, teaching teams have access to year-long PD that supports teachers in their ongoing work and help schools build collaborative, teacher-led learning communities. Zearn PD provides resources that grade-level teaching teams can use to explore the Zearn Math curriculum throughout the school year as they prepare to teach each new concept."
Specifically, Bossier is rolling out Zearn's new professional development series, Curriculum Study PD. Curriculum Study PD is delivered through Zearn's digital platform and includes over 30 one-hour sessions that explore the concepts of each unit of the Zearn Math curriculum. Each session is designed for group learning, with videos and exercises that prompt teachers to analyze the ideas of the unit they are about to teach, assess student work to know what is expected for proficiency, and discuss problem-solving strategies with colleagues. Also included in each interactive session are detailed facilitator guides for administrators and coaches to facilitate the training with teaching teams and participant notes to support learning and takeaways.
