Math teachers from Oak Hills and neighboring Catholic schools will spend the coming year bringing order to sometimes conflicting curricula.

        In a series of monthly seminars and a two-week summer course at the College of Mount St. Joseph, teachers examine what works and why and ease transition from one grade level to the next.

        The program is funded by the Ohio Board of Regents, the Oak Hills school district and the College of Mount St. Joseph.

        “It's not just college prep,” Scott Sportsman, an associate professor of math at the Mount and project director, said on Monday. “It will prepare students for any kind of work.”

        The effort embraces principles and standards adopted by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.

        But, Jay Kemen, director of curriculum and instruction for Oak Hills, says it is not an attempt to impose one curriculum on all of the schools.
       

"Unified understanding'
               Rather, Dr. Kemen hoped that participants would create a “unified understanding” of youngsters' math needs and ways to get students over inevitable bumps as they move from elementary to middle school, then into high school and college.

        Educators can choose how best to achieve those goals, he added.

        The program fits into Oak Hills in-service training with the bonus of bringing in talented teachers from Catholic elementary and high schools, he said.

        Dr. Kemen said the next step might be further work among math teachers and a similar program for science teachers.

        Sister Helen Lucille Habig, assistant archdiocesan school superintendent for math, praised the program because “there has to be coherence for what these kids learn from K to 12.”

        Further, it's a wonderful opportunity to update teachers' skills, Sister Helen Lucille said. “They can't teach as they were taught .... They have to know how to turn these kids on.”
       

New tactics
               Catholic schools cooperated in a similar program with Northwest Schools last year, she said, and her teachers reported the delight of new approaches and materials for teaching problem solving.

        It's not so much that public schools have “scads more money,” Sister Helen Lucille said, but they have access to funding that Catholic schools do not.

        The regents' $43,133 grant to the Mount will cover almost 60 percent of the costs for more than 30 teachers and 20 administrators from public and Catholic schools in the Oak Hills district.

Shuttlesworth receives Presidential Medal
Mariemont woman has a role in 'Mole'
Supreme court ends killer's appeal
N.Ky. Mardi Gras moves indoors
Bush group gives Lindner back $100K
College-bound learn about financial aid
Cost of degree ahead of inflation
Minister, 78, on mend after street shooting
PULFER: Officially speaking is free
Teen Reach complaints going nowhere
How Teen Reach came to Harveysburg
Murder of UC student detailed
Ohio purges Web site of drug, violence data
City debates more funds for Carthage housing
County OKs payment for stadium overruns
Ex-official indicted in theft case
Family grateful to 'heroes'
Math teachers squaring divisions
Prosecution may have conflict in Craven case
Charges filed in case of fake cop
Democrats revive fund club
Newport officials outline priorities
Republican senator proposes central anti-litter program
St. Patrick's parade set for March 17
Big-name concert at Deer Park
Boat would be time machine to 1804 journey
Contractor chosen for Butler road
Crash kills Independence woman
Dog to help collar crooks
House committee chairman stands in way of increased speed limits
Kentucky Digest
Lebanon residents should boil water
Local Digest
Madeira names new councilman
No charges half-year after death from club drug
Parents ask for return of teacher
Reading police chief served community well
Two men charged in pipe bomb explosion