San Diego (special) -- San Diego School Board Member Sue Braun says with the help of such corporations as Qualcomm and SAIC, there will be increasing emphasis on helping elementary school teachers better teach math. She told HERITAGE many teachers in the lower grades are "math phobic," feeling far more comfortable in such areas as social studies and the arts. 

A program at San Diego State University will not only train new teachers to be instructors in math and sciences, but also will retrain some of the current teachers, she said. 

Additionally, she told HERITAGE, "whereas before we had coaches in low achieving schools for reading, now we will also have them for math. We want to get them into all schools. And we want to get into team teaching, where teachers who are trained in match can exchange classes with other teachers."

Braun also said the school board plans to seek a grant from the California Arts Council to implement the board's "visual and performing arts standards" providing teachers with guidance on how they may best incorporate cultural experiences into the syllabus.