Mar 24, 2003 By Joyce Koballa 3 min read

PERRYOPOLIS – A mathematics program deemed exemplary by the U.S. Department of Education has multiplied student achievement on test scores for Frazier High School over the last two years, according to district officials. Through Contemporary Mathematics in Context (CMIC), Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) scores have increased above the state average as well as in comparison with other Pennsylvania school districts for the 2001-2002 school year.

The PSSA is a standardized test that is administered to grades five, eight and 11 each year.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of Education, Frazier’s test scores came in at 1,400 points, 80 points above the state mean of 1320 at the high school level.

“It (CMIC) was one of the real successes in improving math scores on the state test,” said Dr. Frederick Smeigh, superintendent of the program.

The school board approved CMIC in 2000 as one of several curriculum changes after staff and administration determined that secondary math scores from 1996 to 1999 were consistently behind and below those of the state average on the PSSA.

The four-year course is funded with the help of a $50,000 grant awarded by the National Science Foundation and begins in the ninth grade.

It consists of a sequence of three core courses for all students, plus a fourth course continuing to prepare students for college mathematics.

As a Title I school, Frazier is eligible to receive federal grants through a Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program designed to increase student achievement by assisting public schools across the country with implementing comprehensive reforms based upon scientific research and effective practice.

The program targets high-poverty and low-achieving schools, especially those receiving Title I funds, by helping them to increase the quality and accelerate the pace of their reform efforts.

Staff from the Laboratory for Students at Temple University and the U.S. Department of Education conducted a study to show how the CSR program in schools that received math and reading grants affected student achievement.

The study examined the change in both math and reading scores at Frazier before the grant was funded in 1998-1999 through the year following funding in 2000-2001 to show the change in achievement during the funding cycle, as well as, the sustained efforts.

“The goal is to set up model programs that other school districts could emulate,” said Smeigh.

According to Smeigh, the district did not have to apply for a math grant for the middle school because the test scores have continued to remain well above the state mean as well as the district’s reading scores.

Although the influx in reading scores wasn’t attributed to CMIC, Smeigh said certain skills in that subject were applied to the math program.

With CMIC, the various learning abilities of students are now being met in addition to preparing them for success in everyday life. It is also geared to draw connections between mathematics in everyday, real-life situations by developing essential mathematical concepts in the context of modeling real-world problems.