BOISE - In an effort to prepare students for the rigors of increasing math requirements, the Idaho State Department of Education is re-evaluating the way schools teach and assess student proficiency in mathematics.

The Idaho Legislature approved $350,000 in research funding earlier this year, which paid for the development of a task force to examine issues such as various assessment methods, teacher training and remedial opportunities for students who struggle in mathematics.

The department will ask lawmakers in the 2008 legislative session to approve funding for the changes it will likely propose in math education and assessment.

Cindy Johnstone, mathematics coordinator for the state department, said the changes are part of the state's math initiative, which was implemented to improve student proficiency in mathematics.

In Idaho and throughout the nation, math scores are steadily falling in elementary and middle schools - a problem that has forced high schools to devote more resources to math remediation.

"As part of the program looking at enhancements that need to be made to the way math is taught in Idaho," Johnstone said. "Basically the task force is still in the process of researching every grade from kindergarten through the 12th grade, so any option is a possibility right now."

But she said the department is looking at assessment methods that it deems successful, such as the Idaho Reading Indicator (IRI), to develop new strategies for teaching and assessing math in public schools.

The IRI helps educators identify students in kindergarten through third grade, who are not proficient in reading, in order to remediate those students before they move on to the next grade.

The state currently tests math proficiency with three different tests such as the Idaho Standards Achievement Test, Direct Math Assessment and the K2 Math Initiative. However, there is no method of identifying individual elementary students who struggle in math.

Johnstone said the task force is researching ways to assist local schools in teaching and remediating mathematics.

"For the past 10 years reading has been made more of a priority, and I think that math has maybe been put on the backburner," Johnstone said. "So we want to make sure that we are able to support the schools in teaching math to our students."

Times-News writer Joshua Palmer covers education. He can be reached at jpalmer@magicvalley.com or at (208) 735-3231.