Literacy for ALL!

Math is Happening Here!!!!

Math software adjusts difficulty of problems to each student’s individual needs. Maine’s Morning Sentinel (10/17, Elliot) reports, “As its name implies, Stanford [University] designed its Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY) for gifted students, but educators have discovered that many other students can benefit from its methods.” EPGY is a software system, used in classrooms, that “teaches concepts by tailoring itself to the needs of each student. As a student tries to solve problems, the program either increases or reduces the level of difficulty of subsequent questions, depending on whether the answers given were correct.” Maine’s Messalonskee Middle School is one of several schools nationwide that are testing the program in sixth grade classes “at no cost to the school system.” The program tracks student progress on a password-protected website. Teachers and parents can log in to view the results. “This ability to monitor students’ progress while allowing them to learn at their own pace has helped the school identify at least five students who may be classified as gifted,” according to math department chair Kathi King. Pennsylvania school uses “problem of the day” to keep math students current on skills. Pennsylvania’s Standard-Speaker (10/16, Jackson) reported, “When students walk into a mathematics class at Hazleton Area High School [Pennsylvania], they often see a problem written on the board for them to solve while their classmates filter in and their teacher takes attendance.” The “problem of the day” often does not “pertain directly to their class. If they are sitting in Algebra I, the question on the board might be about geometry or statistics.” The system is part of a school-wide effort to boost scores on a state standardized math test, the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment. The school is in its second year of “corrective action” over low test scores. The problem of the day helps teachers refresh skills the students have not practiced recently.