Plainville Community Schools
Hartford, Connecticut
Patricia Charles, Assistant Superintendent
John Laskarzewski, Instructional Lead

Plainville Focuses on Problem Solving

The district of Plainville Community Schools, located outside of Hartford, Conn., chose IntelliTools Classroom for three of its elementary schools in a pilot project to enable differentiated instruction with a focus on improving student problem-solving skills in real world applications.

The district selected mathematics as an area of AYP to strengthen. It focused on fractions and measurements for K-5, specifically in comprehending word problems. Emphasis was given to bringing out the relationship of mathematical concepts to the real world using animation and interactive activities.

Support for writing activities was also important, as students needed to give responses to mathematical problems in written paragraph form. Finally, the district had invested in incorporating Connecticut Social Studies project work into a technology template, and part of the pilot project was to investigate reworking the template into IntelliTools Classroom Suite.

Curriculum Standards Targeted

The curriculum standards selected were centered on higher level thinking skills including synthesis, analysis, comprehension, evaluation, contrast/compare, and application of mathematical and scientific concepts to real world scenarios.

After eight weeks using IntelliTools Classroom, teachers reported increased individual student problem-solving abilities using selected activities and improved writing responses after working on writing skills in class.

“We found that the implementation went according to plan and the teachers report that anticipated gains in student problem solving skills were made,” shares Assistant Superintendent, Patricia Charles.

Notes John Laskarzewski, the district’s Instructional Lead, “The district curriculum team was able to recreate the Connecticut Social Studies project template in IntelliTools Classroom. This will now be implemented throughout the district for grade 3-5 social studies project work and available on the district network for teachers to download and adapt as needed.”

“We will be expanding the use of IntelliTools Classroom to other teachers in these three schools and re-running the project with other schools to assist with improving the mathematics AYP results,” he adds.