By Jessica Roeber
Globe Correspondent, 10/31/2000

The Globe's Eye on Education series is focusing on education overhaul in Boston public schools.

Jerry Howland has seen it countless times: math teachers struggling to master the graphing calculator, a relatively new tool that makes difficult math problems easy. Finally, a student shows the embarrassed teacher how to operate it.

It is Howland's mission - and that of 11 other new-math "coaches" - to rewrite those classroom scenes in Boston's middle and high schoolsand make teachers leaders again.

"Many teachers are afraid to use the graphing calculator in class because they don't know how to use it," said Howland, a 30-year veteran of Boston public schools. But "the world is changing and the skills you need today are far greater than they were 20 years ago."

And today's mandates of education overhaul require teachers to conquer their fears of new lesson plans - and using new tools such as computers or graphing calculators (which can calculate simple multiplication to complicated algebra problems).

Boston hopes using coaches to boost math teaching will prepare the average student for pre-calculus by senior year - and ultimately better scores on MCAS tests.

In 1999, the average scaled math score for the district's 10th graders on the Massachusetts Assessment Comprehensive System exam was 213 compared with the state average of 222.

So math coaches like Howland have begun phasing in the first part of a three-year curriculum in the sixth and ninth grades, trying to unite every school with the same book and bring every teacher up to par.

His transition from teacher to coach this year hasn't been easy, Howland said. "It's so hard not playing that role anymore. I'm so used to being in control of the classroom," he said.

Howland, who has a law degree, began teaching math to pay the bills while attending Suffolk Law School and instead found his calling. He helps students with math homework through a local television show called "Extra Help" that broadcasts at 6 p.m. every Wednesday on Channel 12.

As a coach, Howland spends mornings at the John D. O'Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Roxbury and afternoons at English High School in Jamaica Plain.

On Fridays, all the math coaches huddle at Boston Latin Academy and discuss what worked - and what didn't - for the teachers they are training.

One key goal: creating tests all teachers will use to better gauge the effect of teacher performance on student learning.

The new curriculum is aimed at giving students a clear foundation and understanding of math concepts and calls for more writing and interaction among students, said Ed Joyce, senior instruction director for math in Boston public schools.

"It changes the way information is presented. It gets kids working and talking together," Joyce said. And it creates a tight guideline for teachers since few of them majored in math in college, he said. For example, in the ninth grade where Howland is working this year, the focus is on teaching the basic functions of algebra. All classes, no matter what level, have the same book but the pace is different, depending on how fast a student learns.

Educators insist the curriculum still allows for teachers such as Karen Gelzinis to be creative. A teacher at English High, she uses shapes to help students understand negatives and positives, a move Howland applauds.

"Teachers are often isolated to their classrooms," Gelzinis said. "It's nice to have another set of eyes and ears."
Eye on Education is a partnership of WGBH and The Boston Globe, with WILD 1090-AM.

This story ran on page B2 of the Boston Globe on 10/31/2000.
© Copyright 2000 Globe Newspaper Company.