14 minutes and a problem a day

After announcing Klamath County School District’s plan to recover quality instructional time due to snow closure days, a parent raised a thoughtful question: How will adding 14 minutes to the school day benefit students?

Rather than leaving productive solutions to chance, KCSD Superintendent Glen Szymoniak created the Superintendent’s Challenge — a fun and focused way to prepare students for upcoming state testing assessments while maximizing instructional time. 

In our elementary and junior high schools, each grade level is tackling a “problem-a-day,” which teachers review and complete with their students. Teachers will log daily participation, and at the end of two weeks, the three schools with the highest participation rate will win a pizza party, courtesy of the Superintendent’s Office. 

Szymoniak started the challenge on April 1, encouraging schools and teachers to implement their own creative supports and incentives to get every student involved.

“The goal is simple yet vital: to spark awareness and excitement while boosting students’ confidence as they prepare for these important assessments,” Szymoniak said. “By working together, we can turn preparation into a collaborative and rewarding experience for students and teachers alike.”

Want to give some of the questions a go? Here are the links to our Problem-a-Day:
Elementary Problem of the Day

7th/8th Problem of the Day

Click on the links to see all the problems and to follow participation results by school. We’ll update results of the challenge at the end of the two weeks. Good luck to our schools – and to any parents or community members who are trying out the assessment questions! Are you as smart as a fifth-grader? 😊