Programs Aim To Improve Reading, Math Skills
The Wolf Point School District is beginning new blended learning instruction with the goal of technology helping students improve especially in the areas of reading and math.
The program is starting for Wolf Point’s k-6 grade students this week. The plan is for students with lower grades/scores to get the information they need and for the students who have experienced more success to go even higher.
Sarah Chambers, curriculum director, said the programs were selected by school officials because of their extensive research success and longevity.
“These two programs have been around a long time and have a long base of working,” Chambers said. “The research shows if used for at least 90 minutes a week, it results in growth of at least one grade level a year.”
The Clever program is specifically for safety so that students don’t access programs that aren’t suitable for them.
The Lexia program aims to improve students’ reading the literacy skills. The blended learning program accelerates the development of literacy skills for students of all abilities, helping them make the shift from learning to read to reading to learn.
“The Lexia interactive programs helps with all literacy skills,” Chambers said.
ST Math is a visual instructional program that leverages the brain’s innate spatial-temporal reasoning ability to solve math programs. With a cartoon penguin guiding them, students improve their knowledge by solving challenging puzzles and perform non-routine problem solving.
“Both are designed for kids to have fun, but they are learning to solve puzzles at the same time,” Chambers explained.
At Southside Elementary School, students will take part in the programs during classroom rotations, special technology time and power hour. At Northside Elementary School, students will use the programs during classroom rotations and special technology time.
Teachers are excited about the additions. “The programs match the standards with how we determine whether a student is proficient or not,” Chambers said.
She is hopeful that the programs will be added to the junior high and high schools as early as next school year.
“Our ultimate goal is growth of the end of the year with our metrics,” Chambers said. “These interventions are aligned with state and national standards. The programs build students to be academic competitive and make them college and career ready.”
