Teach to One Program Expands Personalized Math Support to High School
May 17, 2017
With two-thirds of incoming freshmen nationwide behind in math, New Classrooms’ learning model will support the development of critical algebra skills.
NEW YORK –Today, New Classrooms announced its personalized learning model, Teach to One: Math (TTO), is now available to high school students who are not yet ready for algebra–a major challenge for many freshmen nationwide. TTO will give students access to individualized lessons tailored to their personal needs, enabling them to remain in high school while developing skills traditionally taught in middle school.
“If we really want students to be ready for college, we have to think about what skills they need no matter what grade level they are in,” said New Classrooms’ CEO Joel Rose. “Teach to One’s growth to high school is part of an overall effort to ensure that students are learning what they need, when they need it, so they can gain the math knowledge that will set them up for success in high school, college and life.”
Math is a major obstacle preventing students from being college ready. If a student goes into ninth grade off track in math, they have less than a 1 in 5 chance of graduating high school college ready. Currently, two-thirds of students nationwide enter high school off track in math.1
New Classrooms began its work in two high schools this year. Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, Calif. is finishing its first year using the TTO learning model this year with 80 freshmen who started the year at or below grade level.
“We believe that when you give students the information they need to form their consciousness, they can transform the world,” said Ryan Brusco, Assistant Principal of Instruction at Moreau. “The best day of teaching I ever had was not the first time our students took their first assessment in TTO and scored well. It was the day after. They had felt success and they felt they could do it. Their whole tone changed. Their worlds were transformed.”
With TTO in high school, students receive a combination of teacher-delivered, collaborative and independent learning opportunities synchronized around their unique learning strengths and needs. Each student receives a personalized curriculum that includes both core algebra skills as well as pre-algebra skills from prior grades that the student has not yet mastered. Teachers are able to track in real time how their students are progressing toward mastering algebra. High schools offering TTO are encouraged to offer credits based on students’ performance at the end of the course.
About New Classrooms
Founded in 2011, New Classrooms is a national nonprofit on a mission to personalize education by redesigning how a classroom works – from the use of technology, time, and physical space to the instruction and content that engages each student. The founders of New Classrooms were the leaders of an initiative within NYC Public Schools called School of One, which TIME named as one of the Best Inventions of 2009. New Classrooms’ first learning model, Teach to One: Math, ensures each student is learning the right math lesson, at the right time, and in the right way that best meets their strengths and needs. It is used in 40 schools, serving about 13,000 students, nationwide.
