West Virginia Districts Move to Carnegie Learning Common Core Math Curricula with Support from the Benedum Foundation
RESA 6 High Schools Get Early Start Implementing New Math Standards
PITTSBURGH, June 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Nearly 1200 freshmen in nine West Virginia high schools will be a step ahead this fall when they are introduced to new math curriculum aligned to the Next Generation Standards and Objectives, the state's implementation of the Common Core State Standards and Mathematical Practices. Regional Education Services Agency (RESA) 6 in the Northern Panhandle has received funding from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation to implement Carnegie Learning Math 1 in high schools in Brooke, Hancock, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties a year ahead of the mandatory transition to the national Common Core State Standards.
The Carnegie Learning Math 1 implementation is a blended approach to instruction which includes textbooks used in a collaborative classroom setting and adaptive software in a lab several days a week for more personalized learning. All teachers will receive initial training as well as ongoing professional development support throughout the school year.
West Virginia schools have the option to delay the transition to the Common Core State Standards until 2013-2014. However, Math 2 will be required in 2013-2014 and students who have not mastered Math 1 in grade 9 may be less prepared for the new coursework in grades 10-12. Math 3 will be required in 2014-15.
"With a large number of students struggling to meet the existing West Virginia Content Standards, the transition to the more rigorous Next Generation Standards and Objectives presents an urgent challenge to teachers, administrators, and students," said Nick Zervos, executive director of RESA 6. "The new math standards focus on an integrated content approach -- as opposed to a discrete Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra 2 pathway. While the long-term effects of this transition are promising this change comes at a critical time as we prepare our students for employment in a struggling economy, and we feel strongly that offering our students curriculum aligned to the new standards now rather than waiting a year will give them a significant advantage going forward. Carnegie Learning's research-based math curriculum and professional development services show positive results in West Virginia and nationally and the new Math I curriculum is developed, specifically, to meet the requirements of the Common Core State Standards."
Based on more than two decades of cognitive science research at Carnegie Mellon University, Carnegie Learning's textbooks and Cognitive Tutor® software create an individualized learning path so that students receive personalized instruction specific to the math skills they have not yet mastered. Carnegie Learning programs are currently used by nearly 600,000 students in more than 2100 schools in 48 states and are adopted curricula in 17 states including West Virginia.
In a research grant study of five West Virginia school districts using Carnegie Learning math curriculum in 2006-2007, the average student showed a 13.7% improvement in Applied Math 1 test scores. In Lincoln County, after two years implementing Carnegie Learning Cognitive Tutor® Algebra 1 with 9th graders, the district jumped 13 places in the 2008/2009 state rankings and Lincoln County High School achieved its first ever Adequate Yearly Progress rating. After Marshall County's John Marshall High School adopted Carnegie Tutor, 75% of students achieved WESTEST proficiency in mathematics in 2008, a 15 percentage point increase from 2004.
"RESA 6 is taking an important lead in testing West Virginia's new Math 1 curriculum and Common Core State Standards with advanced instructional tools like Carnegie Learning's, and we are pleased that the West Virginia Department of Education is looking at RESA 6 as a pilot for further expansion in the state," said Jim Denova, vice president of the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. "We have worked with Carnegie Learning in the past, and its student-centered, self-paced method of mastering math concepts has proven superior to traditional textbook methods with West Virginia students."
About Carnegie Learning, Inc. (www.carnegielearning.com)
Carnegie Learning is a publisher of innovative, research-based mathematics software and textbooks for middle school, high school, and post-secondary students, aligned to the Common Core State Standards. Providing differentiated instruction in schools across the United States, Carnegie Learning is helping students to succeed in math as a gateway to graduation, college, and the 21st century workforce. Carnegie Learning, a wholly owned subsidiary of Apollo Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:APOL), is located in Pittsburgh.
SOURCE Carnegie Learning
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