By Angie Thompson, Senior Reporter
TIFTON — Proponents of an Accelerated Math program some local public school students are using want to expand the program because of the positive results it is producing.
Pam Howard, a math teacher at Tift County High School, spoke with members of the Tift County Foundation for Educational Excellence Tuesday. Howard received the Bob Wight Challenge Chair grant after submitting an application last year. She wanted to let the TCFEE members know how well it is working, and that she hopes it can be expanded to reach more students.
Howard taught math for eight years in the Colquitt County school system and used the program there. She said that the program, from Renaissance Learning (the same company that provides Accelerated Reader), worked so well for students there that when she began teaching at Tift County High School, she missed it.
“In the school year 2006-2007, 87 of my students were first-time test-takers of the Georgia High School Graduation Test,” Howard said. “None of these students were in college prep classes. Nearly half were at-risk students and 84 of the 87 passed.
“I attribute that, at least in part, to the way I was able to differentiate instruction using this program and to the motivation the students had to compete with each other and reach the goals set for them.”
The program is used to diagnose what a student has already mastered and what the student still needs to master. The students are given a diagnostic test over a specific objective and if the student masters the objective, no more work is needed on that objective. If they don’t, a practice is printed and the students works some more.
The student then completes the practice, scans it and receives a performance report and a new practice based on how well the student did on that practice. The student then meets with the teacher to identify errors and receive additional instruction. Practice on an objective continues until adequate progress is made, a re-test is given and the objective is mastered.
Howard lauds the program for its ability to diagnose a student’s strengths and weaknesses and accelerate their progress.
“This program lets teachers give students immediate feedback,” said Helene Dutcher, assistant principal and instructional coach who works with curriculum at TCHS.
With traditional testing, Dutcher said, students sometimes forget what an exam was about and lose motivation before finding out how well they performed on the exam.
“They get to find out right away what they have to do to learn it and they get to try again,” Dutcher said. “They don’t have to move on until the concepts are mastered.”
One TCHS math teacher is currently using the program — which requires one computer, one camera and one scanner — but Howard and Dutcher would like to see the program available for more students. The TCFEE’s $1,944 paid for the first 50 students who use the program. The school system invested another $900 needed to push the number of students served to 250. Currently, Howard is seeking additional funds to push that number up to 300.
Howard said that End Of Course Test scores for those who used the program were significantly higher than those who didn’t have access to the program.
Mike Brumby, who serves as executive director of the TCFEE, said that the Bob Wight chair and resulting grant is different than the foundation’s other seven in that it challenges teachers, media specialists and others to apply programs that produce positive results — and the results must be measurable.
“The results of this program can be measured by everyone from the school system to the students to the teachers,” Brumby said. “I would love to see this program expand.”
To contact senior reporter Angie Thompson, call 382-4321.
