Scoil Maelruain Snr. School Improvement Plan for Numeracy 2015
Targets:
- To maintain and improve upon the current high standard of numeracy in our school.
- To improve problem solving and reasoning throughout the school.
- To increase problems solving scores in sigma by 2 %.
- To increase the percentage of pupils who like solving more challenging problems and to make it a more enjoyable activity.
- To increase pupils knowledge and awareness of mathematical skills.
Baseline Evidence/ Data gathered for our School Self Evaluation Report
- Sigma Test scores were analysed. Our results indicate that in June 2014, 65% of students scored above the 50th percentile. This percentage increased to 75% of students scoring above the 50th percentile in June 2015.
- Questionnaires were used to establish the views of parents.
- Focus Group interviews were used to establish the views of students.
- Questionnaires were also used to ascertain the views of teachers.
Persons responsible: All Staff
Timeframe for actions: This is a 3 year plan
Year 1 September 2016:
Focus on Problem Solving within all classes. Discrete curriculum time-( 30 minutes) will be allocated to Problem Solving in Mathematics per week.
Teachers will continue to teach the RUDE (Read, Underline, Draw, Estimate) strategy for word problems.
Teachers will continue to add to the Problem Solving resource pack for each year group.
Year 2 September 2017:
Teachers will broaden their approach to Problem Solving to include the following types of problems- puzzles, practical tasks, open ended investigations etc.
Teachers will explicitly teach the skill of ‘Communicating and Reasoning’ to students.
Year 3 September 2018:
Monitor the effectiveness of strategies being implemented
Evaluate the effectiveness of the plan
Review the provision of maths resources in the school and update if necessary.