On September 26, all MacArthur students started using ALEKS, accessing it with their Chromebooks and through McGraw Hill app, during 0 Period on Tuesdays and Thursdays in their Tiger Connection room to improve their skills in math after dropping math scores.
ALEKS is a program that has helped students, since 1996, (UCI News) and bought by McGraw Hill in 2013, (Prnewswire.com). The program helps in many subjects like mathematics, chemistry, statistics, and business and is a part of McGraw Hill. ALEKS is the chosen math intervention program by the Santa Ana Unified School District.
Science Teacher Mr. Johann Appell has confirmed that he likes the idea of ALEKS during Tiger Connection. “Yeah, it seems to help,” said Appell. A majority of Appell’s 0-period students have been doing their Aleks while in his class.
Tuesdays and Thursdays during Tiger Connection is the time to work on ALEKS to finish the weekly goal of 7 topics. Having ALEKS a focal point of the seminar class was designed to motivate students into completing their weekly ALEKS assignments. Tiger Connection on Mondays and Fridays feature the Morning Announcements, a lesson and/or reminder, leaving little time to work, but Tuesdays and Thursdays are reserved for the math program.
Seventh Grader, Yamir A., has been doing his ALEKS along with all other MacArthur students, he feels like he has improved in math. Yamir said, “Aleks helped improve my speed, I can answer questions faster now.”
ALEKS has been adopted to help improve math scores, as measured through MAP and SBAC assessments. ALEKS is the alternative to losing elective classes and having two math periods. Some students currently have two periods of language arts for remediation. Across Santa Ana and the country, math scores have been dropping since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Math teacher, Mrs. Holly Kotler, has confirmed that a majority of kids have done their ALEKS. “They’re doing well in class, however, they’re not reaching the goal,” said Kotler.
The second school semester increased the 5-topic goal with a requirement of 7 topics minimum. To add additional incentives, students are competing in “March Mathness”, a school-wide challenge against cross-town rival McFadden Institute of technology.
Principal Mr. Ray Gonzales said, “After the pandemic, we found this as one way to improve kid’s math.” Improvement is necessary for keeping elective periods and to make up for the lost math topics from during the pandemic. “I like McFadden’s principal, there’s no McFadden beef,” said Gonzales.