North Dakota’s Department of Public Instruction is receiving a grant to help develop math education.
The grant comes from the Institute of Education Sciences. It's focused on middle school.
"Around that middle school level is where we see students start to disengage from mathematics, and really struggle with mathematics concepts," said DPI's Anne Ellefson, with the Office of Academic Support. "That's also where math becomes more challenging."
Ellefson said the grant will be used to better-understand what students are struggling with, and what tools and resources teachers have to help the kids who are struggling.
"The point of the grant is to support educators, in communicating with new classrooms in the state," Ellefson said. "What the need is more tools and resources, and how we design instructional strategies to best meet those students' needs, test it out and provide some feedback."
Ellefson said the grant information is available on the DPI Website, under “Mathematics.” She said they are hoping for about 20 teachers from 6Th, 7th and 8th grade that would like to participate.
"Be that sounding board to discuss what students are struggling with in their classroom, or what strategies they are struggling to implement and help students catch up on," Ellefson said. "To design approaches that we can try within the classroom, and provide feedback on what could be strengthened or supported."
