My Students

Many of my third graders have not traveled out of the state of Georgia. They have limited experiences and sometimes no one to help them at home. I have found that many of my parents want to help their children with their math, but lack the skills to do so.

My school houses nearly 750 students in grades kindergarten through fifth, with 64% of the population identified as economically disadvantaged.

Additionally, 12% of the school population is identified has having disabilities and 5% of the population are English Language Learners (Georgia Department of Education, 2008). Standardized test score results indicate that 34% of the third grade students did not meet expectation on last year’s state-mandated standardized test, the Criterion References Competency Test (CRCT).

My Project

For the past few years I have watched our students math scores decline. This is not just happening at my school, but across the state of Georgia. I believe it is time for the educators to strive to make math more real to the average student. We should not only teach the facts and formulas, but "whys" behind each. The Singapore math system does this by helping students make visual connections. It also supports that National Council of Math Teacher Standards, which promotes the teaching of math through problem based learning. This will prepare students for real world experiences and make learning fun. Singapore Math is also supported by viable research. A Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study is completed every four years in which 4th, 8th, and 12th graders are assessed. Twenty to thirty countries take part in this. In 1995, 1999, and 2003 Singapore scored no. 1. In 2007, Singapore scored no. 2 second to Japan. This shows the efficacy of the program.

The supplies from this grant will be shared with five other classrooms.

We will use these workbooks as math text resources, not allowing the students to write in them. We will use small group teaching and schedule our math classes at different times to enable us to share these supplies. Please help us help our students achieve higher goals and standards with a better understanding of math and less emphasis on memorization.