Pitsco Education Today

Algebra exam scores soar in S.C. school

Bryan Sheeley — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 15:11:00 GMT

Just over two years ago barely 50-percent of students at Carolina High School & Academy were able to pass the South Carolina Algebra EOC exam. The abstract nature of Algebra I was a mystery to half of the students who took the test, and these percentages of success and failure are typical across the country when it comes to solving Algebra.

Clearly, in order for students to succeed in "the gateway course", some changes would need to be made. And they were.

Pitsco Education's Algebra program was introduced in an attempt to reach struggling students and improve state end-of-course algebra exam results. Traditional methods of teaching algebra we're not working, and so administrator's turned to a project-based, hands-on solution that promised to make the abstract concepts taught in Algebra I meaningful and relevant.

“I absolutely prefer this way of teaching. Teaching toward the concepts rather than just procedures is 10 times better,” said teacher Andrew Baker. “The students can understand it. When you’re teaching to concepts rather than procedures that are abstract to the students, it would be hard to think the traditional way (of teaching algebra) would be better.”

Mr. Baker appears to be right.

Success was achieved quickly the first year, as about 70 percent of Algebra students who completed the Pitsco Education Algebra program passed the South Carolina Algebra EOC exam in 2008-2009, compared to a 50-percent average for the school the previous year. The upward trend continued in 2009-2010 as 93 percent of Pitsco Algebra students passed the state EOC exam.

“I’ve had college-prep and lower-level students in here. As far as motivation, they all want to succeed,” Baker said (watch video). Assistant Principal Michael Delaney, a former algebra teacher, says the hands-on, project-based curriculum that prompts students working in pairs to have “math conversations” gets him excited. Click here to watch the video.

“It’s really showed students the relevance of math. In other words, it’s putting a lot more meaning into it,” he said. “They get to experience the concepts instead of just being told what the concepts are. That really makes a difference. That’s when they can make those connections, not only to math but to other courses.”

Teachers are helping students to grow in self-confidence, and success in previously perplexing subject areas is perhaps the biggest confidence builder of all. Pitsco Education Algebra was implemented in 2008 as an attempt to reach struggling students and improve state end-of-course algebra exam results.

Click here to learn more about the Pitsco Education Algebra program.

Being Great from 3 to 8

Bryan Sheeley — Mon, 24 May 2010 13:53:00 GMT

Many of my generation can certainly remember when the bell rang around 3:30 at the end of the school day. Books were deposited in our school lockers, and we were off to football practice, an after-school job, or a leisurely stroll that would lead us home to an after-school snack or the handle of a lawnmower.

It wasn't long, however, before it became common for both parents or, often times, a single parent to hold down jobs that would keep them at work until well after 5 p.m., and leave children fending for themselves. The term "latchkey kids" found its way into the mainstream, leaving us with an image of kids growing themselves up between the hours of 3 and 8, and for many, these were hours of quiet desperation.

Today, we have the same challenge as a society, and for many young people, being left alone to fend for themselves during these in-between times can lead to a chain of events and decisions that leaves them squarely in harm’s way.

As a response, leaders in education are turning to extended learning opportunities for young people as an alternative to being idle and unproductive. “Being great from 3 to 8” is much more than a new motto. It represents a new model to which educators and community leaders across the country are turning to extend the learning opportunities beyond the traditional hours of student-teacher interaction in schools.

After-school programs are taking many forms and functions, and for every model and implementation students who might otherwise be putting themselves at risk are now given options that can make a very real difference in their lives.

One such program has emerged in Macon, Georgia. Pitsco Education has joined forces with Campus Clubs, a faith-based organization that has successfully navigated its way into the lives of thousands of under-privileged students, offering them a safe and educationally rich environment for each of them to be great from 3 to 8. The Campus Clubs Strong Tower facility is the newest of eight after-school programs and facilities to open its doors in the Macon community.

The facility is comprised of 10 classrooms, and each has been filled with Pitsco Education products and curriculum. Our middle-level curriculum offer project-based learning opportunities in science and Algebra, while our high-school curriculum gives students engaging experiences in forensics and health science. Other classrooms are home to Tetrix Robotics and our reading intervention solution known as Reading and Robots. And not long from now, our award winning dropout prevention solution -- The Star Academy Program -- will begin to have a life-changing impact on students who are at-risk of dropping out of school.

The Campus Clubs organization is just one example of how educators and community leaders are finding new and innovative ways to support young people by improving their education and enhancing their lives. Pitsco Education and its employees are proud to be the education partner of the Campus Clubs initiative. Their mission and our mission are one and the same: student success.

Hear no, see no, speak no algebra

Bryan Sheeley — Wed, 12 May 2010 18:00:00 GMT

This is hwo many stuednts look at albegra. It mihgt as well be wrttien in greek. For soem, albegra is the fisrt cuosre in scoohl wehre tehy enconuter abtsratc cnopcets, and most of tehm stugrgle to see hwo ablerga reltaes to the rael wolrd.

It’s interesting that we can look at the series of letters scrambled together and still comprehend their meaning. It’s intuitive for us. We’ve been conditioned to understand. We speak the language.

But when it comes to understanding algebra, an alarming number of students simply can’t make the connection. The abstract nature of algebra seems to elude even the best and brightest students who, upon leaving primary school with a string of good grades in mathematics, encounter this new and strange language called algebra.

I struggled in algebra. I loathed algebra. I never believed it was necessary because I could not see how it applied to me, or that I would ever have occasion to use it beyond the walls of the classroom. It was simply something I had to get through. Years later I would see my own daughter struggle with algebra, with too many homework sessions ending in tears of desperation.

One could make the case that traditional methods of teaching algebra is not solving the problem for a significant percentage of students, and today, more than ever before, administrators are willing to explore alternative solutions in order to raise student achievement levels in The Gateway Course.

Such is the case in Greenville, South Carolina, where students at Carolina High School & Academy have been given an opportunity to learn algebra in a non-traditional way, a way that let’s students see algebra, hear algebra, and speak algebra. A unique combination of hands-on activities, cooperative learning environment, and a student-centered instructional model provide these students with an answer to the question, “why do I need to know algebra?”.

To learn more about how Pitsco Education's algebra curriculum is solving the algebra problem, download the latest issue of The Network Magazine and see how administrators, teachers, and students in Greenville, South Carolina are succeeding in algebra using our innovative middle-level curriculum.

The Star Academy Program: Saving lives one student at a time.

Bryan Sheeley — Wed, 12 May 2010 17:45:00 GMT

Some have called it the silent epidemic. Others refer to it as a crisis that must be fixed. But for the estimated 7,000 students who drop out of high school every day, it's a very real, and very devastating event in their lives, and statistics tell us the future is not so bright for these young people. For them, dropping out of school is a personal tragedy that will have a life-long impact, and the consequences are debilitating, both socially and economically. (View Introduction Video)

But when you step back from the individual consequences and consider the problem as a whole, the nation's dropout rate has an incredible impact on the US economy. According to a recent report issued by the Committee on Education & Labor, 2,000 high schools in the 50 largest cities in America account for 50 percent of our nation's dropouts. Poor and minority students are particularly at-risk, as they account for a disproportionate percentage of the students who are leaving school.

Consider the fact that if--according to a report by the McKinsey Corporation--poor and minority student performance had reached the level of their white counterparts in 1998, the nations' GDP in 2009 would have been between $310 billion to $525 billion higher, or approximately 2 to 4 percent of GDP. Essentially this achievement gap is like having a permanent recession.

Unfortunately, as the country continues to pick itself up off the floor and fight through serious economic challenges, finding a way to "fix" the dropout problem in America's schools isn't high on the list of priorities, despite the fact that statistics indicate that it should be. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and former Governor of West Virginia, put it this way: "That's why I believe that the ultimate economic stimulus package is a diploma."

But while U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA) is chairing a committee in Washington, D.C., to explore the issue, some states have decided not to wait and have implemented solutions to reduce the dropout rate in their schools and close the achievement gap.

South Carolina has turned to the Star Academy Program, a dropout prevention solution developed by Pitsco Education. The Star Academy Program is a school-within-a-school model that serves anywhere from 40 to 80 students in a given year. Students enrolled in the Star Academy Program are typically over-aged and have failed one or more grades. Faced with the prospect of seeing these students leave the enrollment ranks, South Carolina has implemented 16 Star Academies now serving over 500 students with the goal of retaining these at-risk students and get them back on track to graduate with their peers. (View the The Star Academy Program Overview Video)