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Raytown Missouri Purchases Carnegie Learning As District Moves to Improve Annual Yearly Progress; Bridge to Algebra, Algebra I, and Geometry Implemented in Ninth and Tenth Grades

Posted on: Thursday, 29 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

Carnegie Learning, Inc., a leading publisher of math curricula for middle school and high school students, announced today that Raytown School District in Jackson County, Missouri has purchased the company's research-based Cognitive Tutor(r) Bridge to Algebra, Algebra I, and Geometry curricula for several thousand ninth and tenth grade students in this suburb of Kansas City. The $204,000 contract delivers a full curriculum integrating interactive software sessions, textbooks, and student-centered classroom instruction, supported by an ongoing Professional Development program. The purchase is made, in part, with funding from the Kauffman Foundation Grant for Math & Science.

Raytown, like the majority of school districts across the country, is seeing a trend where scores on state math assessment tests deteriorate as student progress to higher-grade levels.

"The number of students scoring in the bottom two Missouri Assessment Program achievement levels suggests that the strategies we currently use are not consistently succeeding with all of our students," said Dr. Barbara Condra, Assistant Superintendent, Raytown School District. "While several schools in the District are seeing gains, others struggle to meet Annual Yearly Progress mathematics goals. It is our objective and responsibility to help every student succeed in math. Making a change to curricula with pedagogy and research indicating measurable success in some challenging districts, is a definitive and proactive step for Raytown."

Carnegie Learning's curricula is based on more than two decades of cognitive science research at Carnegie Mellon University studying how students think, learn, and apply new knowledge in mathematics. The instructional format prescribes three days a week of classroom instruction and two days a week in a teacher-supervised software lab environment. The Cognitive Tutor software was developed around an artificial intelligence model that identifies weaknesses in each individual student's mastery of mathematical concepts, customizes prompts to focus on areas where the student is struggling, and sends the student to new problems addressing those specific concepts. A Teacher's Toolkit provides the instructor with a report on each student's progress on an ongoing basis.

"We are encouraged to see influential organizations such as The Kauffman Foundation supporting school reform initiatives," said Dennis Ciccone, CEO of Carnegie Learning. "We, and the school districts we serve, are benefiting from the work of Kauffman as well as the Benedum Foundation in West Virginia and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Chicago who are raising the visibility of the critical need for change in our secondary schools."

In the past several weeks, Carnegie Learning has announced large purchases of their middle school and high school math curricula for fall implementation in Los Angeles Unified School District, Chicago Public Schools, Portland Oregon Public Schools, and schools across West Virginia.

About Carnegie Learning (www.carnegielearning.com)

Carnegie Learning is a leading provider of core, full-year mathematics programs as well as supplemental intervention applications for middle school and high school students. The company's Cognitive Tutor(r) is helping more than 340,000 students in over 845 school districts across the United States succeed in math by integrating interactive software sessions, text, and student-centered classroom lessons into a unique learning platform for algebra readiness, Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II and Integrated Math programs. The U.S. Department of Education recognizes Carnegie Learning's Cognitive Tutor Algebra I program as one of only two math curricula scientifically proven to have significant, positive effects on student learning. Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Carnegie Learning was founded by cognitive science researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in conjunction with veteran mathematics teachers.

Source: Business Wire

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