Spirit of Math Schools Encourages Educators and Parents to Embrace Math Drills

TORONTO, Aug. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Spirit of Math Schools, an elite after school program helping high performing students achieve extraordinary results in mathematics, is calling on educators and parents to include math drills as a key part of learning in the class and at home this new school year. Canada's leader in development and utilization of math drills for the past 25 years, Spirit of Math Schools has found this teaching tool to benefit students at all ability levels, with significant improvement in math fact fluency, confidence, and desire to learn math.

Recent studies have shown that with drills, core math facts become so engrained in the student's mind, that the brain actually moves them from short term, to long term memory. In essence, students build a foundation of math facts they can recall at a moment's notice, giving them the capacity to then focus their effort on learning more complex concepts.

"We are encouraged that studies from Ivy-league U.S. universities are now proving what we've known for more than two decades—regular exposure to math drills allows students to develop an automaticity and fluency of math facts which sets them up for life-long success in mathematics learning," says Kim Langen, CoFounder and CEO of Spirit of Math. "At Spirit of Math, we believe that students must have an automaticity of basic number facts to think mathematically. We have found that carefully designed drills are one of four critical elements in math education that provide for a well-rounded math program. The other three are core curriculum, problem solving and cooperative group work. When you combine all four, then we see significant improvements in learning with a boosted confidence that makes math meaningful and fun."  

All students from grades 1 to 8 in Spirit of Math Schools' September-to-June after-school program start their classes with either 5 or 10 minute drills. Every new drill must show improvement in student scores in order for it to be integrated as part of the Spirit of Math drill system. A typical starting class average for a grade five 10-minute drill is 30/80 for the 3-digit by 1-digit multiplication drill. The classes are usually close to, or have exceeded the class average goal of 70/80 by 20 drills. "The effect on the students is profound; and contrary to what many people believe, students love doing them!" states Langen.

The Spirit of Math Schools approach is also generating great results in schools. Educators from both private and public schools across Canada are successfully using Spirit of Math Schools materials and methods to advance student understanding of, and engagement with math.  Spirit of Math Schools offer teachers and parents a host of math resources as part of its Releasing the Genius® Series, which includes the Drill System, Drills iPad app, the Math Problem of the Day (mPod®) system and hybrid online teacher training.

Public education system teachers using Spirit of Math Schools drills in their classrooms have reported positive learning results for students at all ability levels. They also report an increased ability to focus, boosted confidence in their capacity to learn math, and a desire to keep building on their accomplishments.

Spirit of Math Schools, driven by a mission to be the global standard of mathematics education and a new paradigm in math education, is one of Canada's fastest growing companies. Spirit of Math Schools prides itself on offering its after-school program students much more than standard enrichment classes can offer. This includes a comprehensive curriculum that goes deeper than typical textbook questions, the advantage of a class environment where students can be with others who think like them, and the commitment to cover as much content, if not more, in 1.5 hours as is covered in a whole week of day school.

To learn about Spirit of Math Schools campuses, books and resources for educators as well as mathematics teacher training services, please visit http://www.spiritofmath.com.

About Spirit of Math Schools Inc.

Spirit of Math Schools is Canada's answer to teacher training and math materials to complement any math curriculum. It also runs Canada's largest after-school enrichment program exclusively for high performing students in grades 1 to 11. It is not a tutoring program, but a program developed to challenge students with an 80% or higher average. Students attend a 1½-hour class each week taught by university-educated, professional teachers throughout the school year. For more than 25 years, Spirit of Math students and alumni have been achieving outstanding results. They consistently dominate the national mathematics honor rolls of Canada and have earned scholarships to the top Universities including Harvard, MIT, Oxford and Waterloo. Spirit of Math has 39 campuses across Canada and a successful pilot location in New Jersey, USA. Visit spiritofmath.com.

News Contact: 
Monika Rola
Argyle Communications for Spirit of Math Schools Inc.
(416) 968-7311 ext. 240
[email protected]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140827/140347

SOURCE Spirit of Math Schools Inc.