Secretary of Education Duncan Visits Exemplary Conceptua Math Site
Tucson, AZ (PRWEB) September 12, 2013 -- United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan paid a special visit to a leading Conceptua Math implementation site today to recognize its leadership in digital learning. Duncan is at the Sunnyside Unified School District which uses Conceptua Math as its grade 3-5 core instructional program.
Secretary Duncan and Richard Culatta, the Director of the Office of Educational Technology, are on a Back-To-School Bus Tour with the theme “Strong Start, Bright Future.” In his comments to a large gathering of students, school officials, and Arizona political leaders, Secretary Duncan strongly endorsed the use of technology in schools. He stated that funds traditionally earmarked for textbooks need to be re-allocated to technology-based content. His comments were echoed by Sunnyside Superintendent, Manuel Isquierdo, who said that the district is going “all-digital” and that there is “no looking back!”
Arjan Khalsa, CEO of Conceptua Math, participated in a leadership roundtable with Director Culatta which focused primarily on the opportunities that lie ahead as schools move in the direction of digital content delivery. Culatta made it clear that new digital curricula must be much more interactive than textbooks and must support teachers.
Sunnyside selected Conceptua Math due to its unique pedagogy and built-in teacher supports. Conceptua Math emphasizes visual and conceptual learning, based upon a body of research regarding best practices for diverse learners. Conceptua Math provides interactive discussion guides to empower teachers to facilitate classroom discussions and employs adaptive teaching with technology to help teachers differentiate instruction. These technology-enabled features bring Common Core math instruction to life in the Sunnyside schools.
Sunnyside’s Director of School Improvement, Pam Betten, spoke today about the Conceptua implementation: “We are taking a big step. With Conceptua, we are using technology as our core instructional component for upper elementary. It supports our teachers and our students, and I see the whole district making huge strides forward. This means everything to us as we work to master the Common Core in mathematics.”
The Sunnyside Unified School District serves 18,000 predominantly Hispanic students with a nationally-recognized 1:1 computing initiative. The district’s 5,600 students across 18 campuses and 219 classrooms are currently using Conceptua Math. Students experience high levels of engagement, while teachers appreciate that the digital curriculum enhances their involvement with students. Teachers deliver openers and closers, facilitated discussions, on a daily basis. They have become proficient with the class dashboard offering real time data and assignment differentiation.
About Conceptua Math
Conceptua Math, an innovator in online K–8 math curriculum, was founded by a team of educational publishing and research leaders with a mission to transform the teaching and learning of mathematics. Conceptua Math offers best-in-class visual models that are based on leading research, interactive discussion guides that empower a teacher to facilitate the Standards for Mathematical Practice, and adaptive teaching technology that allows a teacher to diagnose and remediate student misconceptions. For more information, visit http://www.conceptuamath.com or phone 888.768.MATH.
Kay Lindenberg, L. Wolfe Communications, +1 (773) 278-2800, [email protected]
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