Math News

What is making Anderson Elementary School’s scores on California’s Academic Performance Index jump 136 points (to 810 out of 1,000) in one year?  It is never easy to prove a cause-and-effect relationship in education, but three ingredients associated with success in other schools are at work: high expectations for everyone, constant assessment and family involvement.

Anderson’s demographics are the ingredients for “a watered-down curriculum and the excuses for academic failure.”  It has 430 students; 90 percent receive subsidized lunches; for 70 percent, English is a second language and 70 percent is Hispanic.  But Anderson has been a major success, and here are some reasons explaining its success.

• Believing kids can and will learn.
  • Kathleen Martin teaches first grade at Anderson.  Standing in front of a white board covered with math problems, her class talked through the solutions together.  The students repeated the headings over each problem on the board: “Algebra and Function,” “Probability,” “Data Analysis.”
• BoardMath acquaints kids with formal mathematical terminology in first grade and beyond, but familiar methods remain.
• Anderson also has put in place more computer-based instruction in reading and math, allowing children to learn at their own level and pace.
  • “The kids love it,” said Terry Clavelli, a first-grade teacher. She can monitor their work not only by looking over their shoulders, but also through a report that the JiJi program compiles.
• Small groups are incorporated into the classroom.
  • Groupings cluster students of similar skills
  • There is continual assessment that guides individual instruction.
• Anderson’s academic makeover proceeded with the support of its teachers.
  • “They allow quite a bit of flexibility for us to be good teachers,” said Katrina Rumbold, a fifth-grade teacher.
  • “At a school like this you work harder.” Many teachers stay after school to tutor students needing extra help.
• Classes at the school teach Spanish-speaking parents English, life skills and how to talk to teachers about their children.
  • “Parents feel more comfortable.  The feel more pride.”