MATH TEACHERS HOPE TO LEARN WHY RUSSIANS SCORE HIGHER SHADOW HILLS INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL INSTRUCTORS SEEK FUNDING FOR TRIP.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

PALMDALE - A husband and wife who both teach math at Shadow Hills Intermediate School have been invited to attend a conference in St. Petersburg to study how Russians teach math.

If they can find $12,000 for the trip, the pair will bring back pointers to other teachers from instructors in Russia, where eighth-graders outscore their American counterparts on international math tests.

``In the early elementary years, the U.S. and Russia are pretty close in the third and fourth grades,'' said Elaine Michels, 31, who teaches eighth-grade pre-algebra. But by the equivalent of junior high and high school, she said, Russian students are far ahead on standardized math tests.

``That's something that definitely interests us - in figuring out how they are so far ahead,'' she said.

Michels and her husband, Dan, who teaches eighth-grade algebra, made a presentation about the third annual United States-Russian Joint Conference on Mathematics at last week's meeting of the Palmdale School District board.

The trip depends on whether the Michelses get approval for the May 19-29 trip from district board members, who will consider the request at a meeting in March, and grants for expenses.

The Michelses hope for half the $12,000 from a school staff-development grant and the rest from community donations and state funds aimed at helping students improve academic performance and standardized test scores in schools designated as underperforming.

The Michelses hope to get enough community donations so that grant money for underperforming schools is kept to a minimum.

``We are very hopeful. We haven't signed off on it yet,'' Principal Mike Perkins said.

About 15 to 30 people go to the conference from the United States each year, then instruct fellow U.S. educators on what they learned.

Elaine Michels was selected as a delegate based on teaching experience, education and membership in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, to which her husband also belongs.

Each delegate can pick another, so the choice was obvious for her. She and her husband share a classroom.

``I didn't want to go by myself. It's kind of an interesting trip. It would be more fun to take him than anyone else,'' she said. ``We both work in the same job and school, and we get along quite well.''

Her husband said the two will visit a cross section of Russian classrooms serving students with a wide range of aptitude and a variety of cultural and economic backgrounds.

``We will be spending time in classroom visitation in all levels of schools, from low socioeconomic to high socioeconomic,'' he said. He said the U.S. delegates will visit academies for gifted and talented students, as well as classrooms for those less able, and make comparisons.

``We'll look at how math teachers are prepared in Russia,'' his wife said. ``We'll take a look in the classrooms (at) how they implement their knowledge in the classroom in preparing students for standardized tests.''

Natives of Iowa, the Michelses both majored in education and minored in math at the University of Northern Iowa, where they received degrees. They both have been teaching in the Palmdale district for 10 years.

They have two children, 6 and 3.