BC Numeracy Project: Visions and Goals for Balanced Numeracy

The Provincial Numeracy Focus Group team members met in Victoria for two days at the beginning of June to share how the BC Numeracy Project had been enacted in their districts and to vision and plan for next year. We had an ambitious to do list, continuing on from our meetings last year and our tele-conferences over this school year.

An essential part of this project is considering the principles and practices of Balanced Numeracy and framing this within the parameters of BC's redesigned curriculum. As we thought about how teachers think of Balanced Literacy, we considered (and debated) the elements of Balanced Numeracy. We took some time to brainstorm models and frameworks, thinking about how a simple shape might be a good design for a framework. 

At the end of our two days together, we felt good about where things are heading and what we need to do to get things in place to launch for next year. Our group meets at the beginning of September again to finalize our framework and website. There will be lots of resources to support teachers as they move forward with BC's mathematics curriculum as well as ways to highlight the importance of numeracy in general. Literacy and Numeracy are indicated as the two pillars of BC's curriculum and one of the goals of this project is to heighten awareness in BC around numeracy.

Welcome to the Provincial Numeracy Project

Welcome
Welcome to the site hosting information and documents relevant to the B.C. Provincial Numeracy Project. This project has been developed by the Provincial Numeracy Focus Group, brought together by Melissa Horner and Maureen Dockendorf of B.C.'s Ministry of Education, in the spring of 2015. This group has developed a focus question to guide our purpose and intention for the project:

Will a formalized framework of a balanced approach to math education (with readily available supporting resources) lead to evidence of increased capacity and confidence in math teaching, ultimately resulting-in deeper learning for students in math?

Who We Are

We are a group of twelve educators in eight school districts from four regions in the Province who are contributing to this project work.

Group members include:

Sandra Ball (Surrey), Jennifer Barker (Surrey), Jennifer Carter (Vernon), Vivian Collyer (Sooke), Laura Lancaster (Sooke), Deanna Lightbody (Langley), Janice Novakowski (Richmond), Megan Robinson (Saanich), Janine Roy (Victoria), Susan Robinson (Gulf Islands), Jessica Willows (Gulf Islands), Linda Spiller (Vernon), Rhona Soutar (Campbell River)

What is Balanced Numeracy?
Drawing upon the research base for balanced literacy programs and the results from B.C.'s Changing Results for Young Readers project, our goal is to develop a framework to heighten awareness balanced numeracy programs in our province.

The Balanced Numeracy Framework will include the following:

• A framework (which is already in draft form) that clearly illustrates the necessary components of balanced numeracy in the classroom.
• Ability to be accessible by all educators and learners throughout B.C. through a central electronic site without downloading any software.
• Alignment with the Redesigned Curriculum for Kindergarten to Grade 9.
• Ability to be a “living resource” with examples of Balanced Numeracy routines, structures, activities and inquiries contributed by educators at various levels and in many B.C. contexts.
• Ability to contribute to, and access, professional learning that develops increased confidence, understanding, and joy in math education.

More to come...

At this point, this site has been created to curate information and documents to that project participants have access to necessary supporting materials.

site last updated: June 25 2016