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Photos by Hallie D. Martin
Nearly all Westhampton Beach Elementary School students are earning high scores on standardized math tests, thanks to technology and a few savvy teachers, district officials say.
Between 98 and 99 percent of last year’s third-, fourth- and fifth-graders scored either 3s or 4s on their New York State required math tests that were taken in March, Westhampton Beach Elementary School Principal Ron Masera announced during a recent School Board meeting. A 4 is the highest students can score on the exam.
“We’re proud of our kids in so many ways,” said Mr. Masera, who received the scores in July, adding that about 60 percent of those students scored 4s on the exams.
The standardized math exam categorizes students based on their grades. Those who receive 1s on the exams are not meeting New York State standards, while those earning 4s are believed to possess a thorough understanding of the subject, Mr. Masera said.
Administrators and teachers at Westhampton Beach agree that the success at Westhampton Beach Elementary School can be attributed to the availability of new technologies, like interactive websites, and the focus on students who are struggling with the subject.
“Supporting math through technology has helped students,” Mr. Masera said.
Fourth- and fifth-graders have access to individual MacBooks. But unlike students in middle and high school, they are not allowed to bring them home, Mr. Masera said. The elementary school is equipped with a wireless internet connection and there are laptops in other classrooms, which are considered “Smart Classrooms.”
Caitlin MacCleod, a fifth grade special education inclusion teacher, showed the School Board some of the interactive tools teachers are using in their classroom, including a program called Interwrite, an interactive white board. She demonstrated how students can use a protractor on the computer to measure angles.
“We’re differentiating instruction to meet the needs of all students,” Mr. Masera said.
Fourth grade teacher Jamie Thom said she uses technology, like MacBooks and interactive websites, to help her students sharpen their math skills. She also focuses extra attention on intermediate students, she said at last month’s board meeting.
Ms. Thom has a classroom with special education students, high-achieving students and students that are somewhere in the middle. On Wednesday and Thursday mornings, her class splits up. Some students go off to math tutoring, some go to math olympiads, and she’s left with four students who do not fall into either category.
So she created a math club where students can focus on learning skills at their own pace. The students primarily rely on technology, like the interactive website Pete’s Power Point Station, during that hour each week.
“We don’t want to use what the school provides us,” Ms. Thom said, referring to math workbooks and textbooks.
The students in Ms. Thom’s math club usually score 3s on the state exams, she said, and her goal is to get them up to high 3s or low 4s.
“These are kids in the middle, I feel as if they are often overlooked,” she said. “I sit back with kids who don’t get it right away.”
And Ms. Thom said she has already seen progress. A concept that would usually take her students three weeks to master will now take them about half of that time, she said.
“They master the concept so much quicker,” she said, pointing to the new technology. “We can get through more math concepts through the year.”
Last month her class was working on making change. Two students, Tyler Chieffo and Shannon Hewlett, showed the School Board members during the meeting how they work Pete’s Power Point Station. The students can also use fake money to help them solve problems.
“They work at their own pace,” Ms. Thom said as Tyler and Shannon concentrated on a math problem, doling out interactive coins into a piggy bank.
“They use whatever they need,” Ms. Thom continued as the board members crowded around Tyler and Shannon and smiled approvingly.
After solving the math problems, students can “cash in” the money they saved for prizes from Ms. Thom, like pencils with fuzzy erasers.
“That time is truly a gift,” she said, noting that all of her students also practice math together.
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