Math struggles plague middle-schoolers

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Cloquet Middle School Principal Tom Brenner talked about ways to help struggling middle school math students at the Cloquet School Board’s regular meeting on Feb. 8.

According to Brenner, during last week’s conferences, teachers met with an overwhelming number of parents looking for math tutoring for their children, preferably during the school day.

Brenner said middle school math teachers have been working toward having more review time before tests and giving out practice tests to better prepare the students.

Additionally, a number of high school and college students have expressed a willingness to tutor kids before and after school. Another idea in the works is for people to come to school to give students one-on-one help during activity time and study hall.

The biggest challenge, said Brenner, is communicating all of this with parents.

“Communication is a hit and miss. A lot of parents get the stuff and don’t read it. This stuff isn’t on their radar until they need it,” said Brenner.

Board Member Sandy Crowley agreed on the importance of keeping the lines of communication open.

“I just want to emphasize that this be communicated with parents. A lot of people I talk to are 50-50 that know about what’s going on,” said Crowley.

The issue of struggling middle school math students was first brought up at a Nov. 9 board meeting by Crowley. Brenner said the state standards for math test scores have been set a bit higher than in previous years, and that middle school teachers are doing all they can to keep up with the increasingly difficult math requirements.

In other business, the board voted unanimously to pass a resolution directing the administration to make recommendations for reductions in programs and positions as they look ahead to a possible state budget crunch.

Tags: school board, news, education, cloquet