By SUSAN RUMBLE

Special to The Press

The Parkland School Board, at the June 21 meeting, approved purchasing materials for math instruction in all grades, specialized high school courses, advanced placement classes, and teacher training totaling more than $1.6 million.

The district will obtain a digital license for kindergarten through grade six math materials from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishing company at a cost of $860,440 for a six-year subscription.

Director of elementary teaching and learning Kelly Rosario explained the quote includes a “consumable textbook” for each child.

“The kids write in them,” Rosario said.

The books are used only one school term and will be replaced every year of the contract.

Rosario stated activities and online access are included in the deal.

For the middle and high school levels, the board approved materials from Cengage Learning at a cost of $410,603.

The total includes shipping and handling at a cost of $19,552.

Rosario said the amount is high because the books are heavy.

The district will also purchase calculus, pre-calculus, and college algebra materials from Cengage Learning at a cost of $199,663.

Rosario noted Director of secondary teaching and learning Jason Henry led a committee of teachers to evaluate math programs to determine the best resources for Parkland.

“The content had to be rigorous enough to meet our needs and engaging for students,” Rosario said. “They also looked at the assessment piece.”

She stated the kindergarten through grade 12 math materials are being implemented this year as part of the normal curriculum “refresh” cycle.

Training and coaching for the new instructional math materials was approved at a cost of $86,400.

The training, both online and in person, will be staggered throughout the year, Rosario said.

In other math related items, the board approved purchasing instructional materials for an advanced placement statistics and probability course at a cost of $20,576 and for an advanced placement calculus course at $43,987.

Parkland staff teach the advanced placement courses, enabling students to receive college credit if they score high enough in the class exams.