By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — An overview of the secondary schools’ math curriculum was given during a recent School Committee meeting.
Lynnfield Middle School STEM Director Katie Ambrose said the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) developed the Massachusetts Mathematics Curriculum Framework for grades K-12 statewide.
“It is a set of guidelines that describe what the habits and practices of proficient mathematicians are,” said Ambrose.
Ambrose said the grade 5 math curriculum focuses on operations and algebraic thinking, numbers and operations, fractions, measurement and data, and geometry. She said grades 6 and 7 focus on ratios, the number system, expressions and equations, geometry, and statistics and probability.
Ambroise said the middle school has transitioned to the “Reveal Math” textbook in the grade 7 honors class this academic year.
“‘Reveal Math’ is made by McGraw Hill, so it has been a natural transition for us,” said Ambroise. “Next year, our eighth grade honors class is going to transition to ‘Reveal Math.’ We are going to do the CP (college prep) class the year after.”
The LMS STEM director said the math curriculum for grade 8 emphasizes functions, the number system, expressions and equations, geometry, and statistics and probability.
Ambroise recalled that the elementary schools are looking to implement a new math curriculum during the 2025-2026 academic year. She said the middle school will be examining whether a new math curriculum should also be adopted in grades 5 and 6 to make sure the curriculum at the elementary schools is aligned with the middle school’s.
“That is something down the road we are going to be looking at,” said Ambroise.
Ambroise said teachers administer tests, quizzes and formative assessments at each grade level in order to monitor students’ academic progress. She also said students undertake projects in math classes and work in groups.
“Math is all about practice,” said Ambroise. “Practice, practice, practice is the best way to study for a test.”
Ambroise said fifth grade and sixth grade classes are grouped “heterogeneously just like in elementary school.”
“Seventh and eighth grade is when we start to offer different courses,” said Ambroise. “We have the CP and honors courses in seventh and eighth grade.”
School Committee member Jamie Hayman asked how LMS students can enroll in honors classes. He also inquired if there is a “jump” between CP and honors classes “once students are in a particular track.”
“Going from sixth grade to seventh grade, we gauge interest from families if they are interested in their student being in honors,” said Ambroise. “We used to give a placement test, so when we did that, we knew who was interested. We also look at data. We look at past MCAS data, interim assessments, Renaissance Star data and how they are doing in the classroom. I sit down with the teachers and talk about the results of all of that data. Students are recommended for the honors class or not, and notification is sent home to families. It’s a similar process going from seventh to eighth, but it’s a little bit different because seventh grade students have already had the experience of being in the honors class. If a student is struggling in the honors class, the teacher will reach out and talk to families. If it is not the right fit, the student will not continue in the class.”
In response to a question from School Committee Vice Chair Jenny Sheehan, Ambroise said most middle schools in Massachusetts don’t offer honors classes in grade 6.
“Developmentally, they might not be ready to be in an honors class in sixth grade,” said Ambroise.
Ambroise said the middle school has two math interventionists who work with students who need assistance. The School Department was able to bring back interventionists at the middle school and elementary schools in the fiscal year 2025 budget after the positions were eliminated a few years ago.
“We pick the specific focus and they have been working with the students,” said Ambroise.
School Committee member Jim Dillon asked if the middle school offers an online program for students who want to work on math at home.
Ambroise said students can use the digital learning platform Freckle in order to practice math lessons at home.
School Committee member Kate DePrizio commended Ambroise and LMS educators for frequently administering assessments to students.
Lynnfield High School
Department Head Karen Ellis discussed the math curriculum at Lynnfield High School.
“We are specifically trying to have our students be hands-on in the classroom and not be passive,” said Ellis. “We don’t want a teacher standing in front of the room for the whole period.”
Ellis said the high school’s math curriculum was revamped after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We decided to go through a revision process,” said Ellis. “We realigned our course pathways to more accurately reflect what we were actually teaching. We renamed our freshman course Algebra 1 for CP because those were the standards that we were teaching in that course.”
Ellis also said the Math Medic curriculum was adopted this year.
“It’s a great, hands-on, standards-aligned and active learning curriculum,” said Ellis. “We had a pilot last year in a couple of classes, and we implemented it fully this year with a few minor exceptions. All of our levels are using Math Medic.”
Hayman asked why the Math Department decided to adopt the Math Medic curriculum.
“In early post-pandemic, we were seeing a lot of passive learning with students,” said Ellis. “We looked around at curricula that is set up to get students to be activated at the beginning of class. They start out with an activation activity to get the juices flowing, and then there is a debriefing where the teacher can make connections. There is a teacher-led portion when the actual formal math lesson occurs.”
Ellis said freshman can take either Algebra 1 or Algebra 2. She said sophomores take Geometry. Ellis said juniors can take Algebra 2, Precalculus or SAT Prep-Mathematics. She said seniors can take either Precalculus, Calculus, Introduction to Statistics, Applied Mathematical Concepts CP, Advanced Placement (AP) Calculus AB or AP Statistics. She said students can take either college prep or honors classes. She said seniors mostly enroll in AP math courses and take AP exams.
Hayman asked if the high school has considered offering AP Precalculus.
“If you look at our Honors Precalculus curriculum, it matches the AP curriculum,” said Ellis. “Some students are taking five or six courses at $97 apiece, so it is a huge cost for students and families. And for a lot of the colleges our students are going to, I am not sure they will get college credit for AP Precalculus. We are not sure we want to adopt the AP part, but we are teaching all of that content.”
Ambroise added that a lot of high schools do not offer AP Precalculus.
Similar to the other departments at the high school and the other three schools, Ellis said math teachers are administering common assessments to students “across the board.”
Ellis said the high school was able to offer the Introduction to Engineering course for the first time this academic year.
“We are trying to expand our electives for students,” said Ellis. “Budget dependent, we have several other electives we would like to try offering.”
School Committee Chair Kristen Grieco Elworthy asked what electives is the high school looking to offer. She also asked what resources will the high school need in order to offer the electives.
Ellis said the high school would like to offer Computer-Aided Design (CAD), Interactive Device Design, Mechanical Design and Robotics.
“Those are all courses we would love to offer our students, but that would be budget dependent at this point,” said Ellis. “In terms of offering more STEM electives, that would be a manpower issue.”
Elworthy also asked if there are any opportunities to offer math or STEM electives to underclassmen at LHS.
“We have underclassmen taking computer science courses as long as it fits into their schedule,” said Ellis.
Elworthy recalled that the elementary schools’ math curriculum was discussed at a previous School Committee meeting last fall.
