| |
Number
of Schools: There are currently 153 schools implementing
MathWings. These schools are in 29 States and jurisdictions:
Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois,
Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey,
New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota,
Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah,
Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Program
Description: MathWings emphasizes cooperative
learning, problem solving, calculator use, and mathematical
concepts. The program provides teachers with specific
student materials, meaningful assessments, homework
activities, and other supports to help build mathematical
understanding. MathWings has a proven ability to succeed
with all students—and at all levels.
- Incorporates problem solving in
real-world situations
- Allows ample skill practice and
reinforcement
- Challenges all students with top-track
material
- Supports learning through cooperative
efforts
- Leads to connections with literature
and other disciplines
- Demonstrates practical applications
to students’ world and experiences
The MathWings philosophy is that all students need
to establish a solid foundation in mathematics and extend
their knowledge and experience in mathematics. The program
is structured to accommodate all levels of mathematical
ability and world knowledge, while ensuring that all
students experience the depth, breadth, and beauty of
mathematics. Regardless of background skills and experience,
all students participate in the whole-class exploration
of concepts. In the intermediate levels, individual
students reinforce or accelerate their skills in short
individualized units, which are self-paced and tailor-made
to fit students' needs. Each class period is framed
by routines to provide every student the security of
knowing what to expect. Mastery from repeated practice,
as well as inclusion and communication as part of a
team, are the keys to success in MathWings.
MathWings integrates the NCTM Curriculum and Evaluation
Standards with cooperative learning, oral and written
communication, skill practice, and reinforcement. Hence,
MathWings provides students with a balance of concept
development, problem solving, and basic math skills.
It also provides a balance of teamwork, which industry
increasingly expects schools to emphasize, and individual
accountability. MathWings has a clear focus on the strands
of mathematics that the National Council of Teachers
of Mathematics has determined are necessary to prepare
our students to succeed in the increasingly complex
world they will face in 21st century.
Concepts are developed within a problem-solving perspective.
Both real-world and process-type problems challenge
students to reason about, make sense out of, and look
for patterns in mathematics. Lessons begin with a problem
to solve. Concepts are developed through activities
that require the use of problem-solving strategies,
and problem-solving is reinforced in each homework assignment.
Both oral and written communication are integral parts
of MathWings. Every day, students talk about and write
or draw about mathematics concepts and skills that they
are learning. Math log activities are included as part
of every lesson. All of these experiences help students
become more comfortable with writing and discussing
mathematics. Like all SFAF programs, MathWings is built
on the understanding that cooperative Learning enables
students to gather strength from each other. Using cooperative
learning strategies, teachers guide students as they
actively explore mathematical concepts, practice and
reinforce skills, and develop their mathematical thinking.
MathWings lessons are written in a framework of cooperative
learning and the routines are structured around this
strategy. Training supports teachers and their use of
cooperative learning.
Children's literature provides a meaningful context
for mathematics. MathWings units include literature
that is used to develop a concept or to frame a mathematical
situation. Once concepts have been developed, students
work on practicing the skills that are needed to compute
with ease and accuracy. Routines for practicing facts
and building fluency in computation are integrated into
the program. At the intermediate level, there are additional
opportunities for students to refine or accelerate their
mathematical skills during periodic individualized units.
Calculators are presented to the students starting
in first grade as one of the many tools that can help
them mathematically. Calculators are used as a manipulative
aid to develop a concept, as an estimation tool to help
in problem solving, as well as a number-crunching tool.
To connect with each student’s family, each home
assignment contains a letter to the family. This provides
the family with information about what is being learned
in mathematics. It also provides parents with ideas
of what can be done at home to reinforce these mathematical
ideas.
Both
informal and formal means are used to assess students’
understanding of skills and concepts. Pre-assessments,
performance tasks, observations, concept checks, journal
writing, problem solving, and interviews are all tools
used to make instructional decisions and to assess each
student’s mathematical growth. However, while
individually-administered assessments are far more accurate
that district-administered tests and much more sensitive
to real reading gains, educators usually want to know
the effects of innovative programs on the kinds of group-administered
standardized tests for which they are held accountable.
Success for All continually evaluates this data to ensure
the continued growth and success of its students and
schools as a whole. Across the United States, Success
for All elementary schools consistently make substantially
greater gains than other elementary schools on accountability
measures such as state and national tests.
Evaluations
involving 19 schools have examined the impact of MathWings.
This is every school that has implemented MathWings
starting in 1998 or earlier and is in a state that has
had a consistent math assessment over that time period.
One evaluation found that the gains of seven North Carolina
schools were substantially greater than those of other
North Carolina schools on the state’s End-of-Grade
tests. Another evaluated six schools in California,
which also showed outstanding gains in comparison to
the state as a whole on the SAT-9. A study involving
four rural schools in Maryland found substantially greater
gains on the mathematics sections of the Maryland School
Performance Assessment Program for MathWings students
than for the rest of the state. A San Antonio study
also found substantial gains on the Texas Assessment
of Academic Skills math scale in grades 3-5 from 1996
(the year before the program began) to 2000. In 1999
and 2000, virtually every child passed TAAS-Mathematics.
Finally, a study found substantial gains at all grade
levels on state accountability measures in a majority-Navajo
school in Page, Arizona, which started more than 23
percentage points below its state mean at pretest (1998)
and almost reached the state mean in 2000.
For more information, please contact Cheryl Sattler,
Education Policy and Constituent Relations Manager,
at 1-800-548-4998, ext. 2583.
Back To Top
|
