Promising algebra study gets second act
By Tom Chorneau
Thursday, August 03, 2015
(Calif.) Researchers working with some 13,000 students in 18 school districts over a three-year period may have solved one of public education’s great conundrums – how to help more at-risk middle school students pass algebra.
The project, one of 49 funded under a 2009 federal grant, employed among other strategies a summer boot camp, teacher training and mentorship as well as project-based curriculum.
The initial findings were disappointing, showing no significant difference in standardized test scores between students that got the intervention and those that didn’t. But team leaders said last week that a deeper look at the data found a number of teachers who didn’t follow the program all the way through – once those classes were sorted out, the results were much more promising.
“Research is usually about the question you ask and the answers you got but often it leads to more questions,” said Sharon Twitty, director of the project, jointly sponsored by the California Education Roundtable Intersegmental Coordinating Committee and the Alliance for Regional Collaboration to Heighten Educational Success or ARCHES.
Congressman takes leadership role in STEM project
by Tom Chorneau
March 7, 2014
Calf. – Congressman Jerry McNerney, who represents California’s 9th District and serves on the House Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education Caucus, has joined the advisory board of STEM Learning Opportunities Providing Equity, an endeavor supported by a federal Investing in Innovation grant.
For Immediate Release
March 6, 2014
Antioch, CA – Congressman Jerry McNerney, who represents California’s 9th District and serves on the House Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education Caucus, has joined the STEM Learning Opportunities Providing Equity (SLOPE) Investing in Innovation (i3) Project Advisory Panel. The SLOPE i3 Project is focused on helping all students succeed in Algebra 1 the first time they take the class, which is considered critical for college and career preparation. The SLOPE i3 Project also builds student awareness about how math is used in careers in the fields of science, technology, and engineering, and helps students understand the range of postsecondary options in their community so they can start planning the steps they can take to pursue such careers. The SLOPE i3 Advisory Panel meets annually to steer and review the project.
Lessons from Innovators: STEM Learning Opportunities Providing Equity (SLOPE)
By Robert E. Slavin
December 5, 2013
This blog post is based on a conversation between the Forum for Youth Investment and Sharon Twitty, Project Director for the STEM Learning Opportunities Providing Equity (SLOPE) i3 project based at the Alliance for Regional Collaboration to Heighten Educational Success (ARCHES). SLOPE is a development project designed to help students succeed in Algebra in the 8th grade and to prepare for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). Throughout the conversation, Twitty reflected on how relationship building and her background in communications have helped her successfully navigate a complex and geographically dispersed effort. Her reflections and advice to others working to implement and evaluate interventions are summarized here.
Congressman McNerney visits SLOPE i3 Project Algebra classroom in Antioch Unified School District
For Immediate Release
December 20, 2013
Antioch, CA – Congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Stockton) visited Park Middle School in the Antioch Unified School District to see the STEM Learning Opportunities Providing Equity (SLOPE) Investing in Innovation (i3) Project in action in his district this week. The federal i3 grant program supports innovation in education that is demonstrated to improve student achievement and close achievement gaps, with the goal of identifying and documenting practices that can be shared among school districts nationwide. The SLOPE i3 Project is specifically focused on helping all students succeed in Algebra 1 the first time they take the class, as this is considered critical for college and high-skilled job preparation.
CA’s testing suspension threatens algebra project
By Tom Chorneau
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
A team of educators, academics and researchers stretching from Sacramento to Washington D.C. have spent much of the past four years developing and conducting a randomized controlled experiment in teaching algebra to at-risk eighth graders.
Dream-catcher serves key role in 8th grade algebra study
By Tom Chorneau
Monday, June 10, 2013
In an education system crowded with academic specialists, curriculum managers and instructional theorists – Robyn Fisher’s role might be overlooked or even unappreciated in some settings and yet, it could be argued, it is as fundamental to student success as any other.
Her job is to get children to dream.
Teachers get hands-on instructing algebra to at risk middle school students
By Tom Chorneau
Monday, January 28, 2013
There was a time when Mike Moser’s math classes at Park Middle School in Antioch would probably have looked a lot like every other in America.
Students sitting in straight rows; eyes up front. No talking to neighbors and, certainly, everyone does their own work. Moser, too, would have led the room in a conventional manner, with his back mostly to the kids, scribbling on the board while explaining the problem that some students would understand and other might not.
West Side projects test real-world use of math as learning tool
By Nan Austin
Sunday, July 8, 2012
PATTERSON — Ten teens sat in clusters, pencils out, running the numbers on how tough it might be to crack a safe.
Local banks can relax; the treasure these eighth-graders sought was candy sitting on their desks and the wall they had to break through to get it: algebra.
Besides, the feds already were watching. The Patterson class and another in Newman are part of a statewide, five-year research grant. Newman’s voluntary summer session ended last month; Patterson’s program winds up today.
Success adds up at summer math camp
By Marc Aceves
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Getting kids to wake up early and give up a chunk of their summers to attend math camp sounds like a tough sell.
But the Stanislaus County Office of Education and a crew of local teachers have pulled off that feat.
The Summer Algebra College Awareness and Math Proficiency program, which aims to help area middle school students find success in the classroom, has exceeded attendance expectations, according to Kandy Woerz, a program coordinator at the Stanislaus County Office of Education.
Ed Prof challenges professional development conventions
By Tom Chorneau
Monday, April 16, 2012
Ivan Cheng, who spent more than two decades teaching math in Los Angeles schools, is one of a growing number of researchers who believe conventional methods for making teachers better doesn’t necessarily help their students.
A professor of secondary education at California State University, Northridge, and a principal in a federal project looking for new ways to connect at-risk eighth graders with algebra, Cheng points to the billions of dollars spent on traditional professional development programs that have produced few results.
CA districts serve as incubators for 8th grade algebra trial
By Tom Chorneau
Monday, December 05, 2011
Nine California school districts are serving as the test grounds for a new approach to solving one of public education’s great dilemmas – the struggle between middle school students and algebra.
The project is one of 49 awarded grant money two years ago under the U. S. Department of Education’s Investing in Innovation program. The question being asked here is what strategies could be employed to rescue the many thousands of seventh and eighth graders – perhaps millions – that turn off and simply give up each year when first confronted with higher math.