Jenks students score high in Math program
by Jennifer Katz

A math craze has taken hold of the J.S. Jenks School community. Teachers, administrators and — most importantly — students have been logging onto the First in Math program, winning “stickers” for the school. So much so that Jenks placed seventh in the city and 25th in the nation for its sticker average per grade.

The First in Math program is a computer program of math games that involve skills from addition to algebra. The program is based on Robert Sun’s 24 Game. Sun created the game, a single digit math game that features cards with single numbers and instructions for students directing students toward the number 24.

“The 24 Game helps students think strategically and solve problems quickly,” said Mary Lynskey, principal at Jenks.

This is Lynskey’s first year as principal. She said she was familiar with the program through her work at the regional office.

“I saw the data that was pouring out,” she said. “One school increased 20 points in math and the principal attributed it to First in Math.”

Schools have to purchase a license for the program that allows teachers and students in grades 2 through 8 to log in and play the games. Completing the various games, which are broken into three skill sets, wins players stickers.

The Philadelphia School District undertook a case study of the First in Math program in 2004 and 2005. The results showed double-digit increases in fifth-grade Adequate Yearly Progress of 14.7 percent and 8.3 percent increase for eighth-graders. The Northwest schools ranked second in the district for the program, with fifth-graders scores increasing 14.6 percent and eighth-graders scores increasing 16.8 percent – double the district’s increase.

At Jenks, students were encouraged to do the program on their own. The school also held two events as incentives for the kids to come back to school at night to work on the program. At the First in Math Halloween bash and Spring Fling, students were invited to come to school in the evening for a pizza party and the math games.

Lynskey said the results of the program reached beyond the trophy and the ranking.

“The students get recognition that will help them do their best,” she said. “They get to see the intrinsic value of doing well.”

Lynskey said celebrating the success of the program allowed students to achieve success in an academic area as opposed to sports, which has been more acceptable for many years.

“When you achieve in school you are seen as not part of the cool group,” she said. “This breaks that barrier. This sets up another culture in the school that says there are other ways to achieve and bring pride back to school.”

Lynskey said the school would have ranked higher if she had purchased the license before October. The other schools had a slight jump on Jenks because of that. Lynskey said the previous principal had not purchased the license the year before, and it took her a couple of months to realize that the school was not participating in the program.

Since then, she has doubled the computer lab and outfitted the middle school grades with laptops and SMART Boards in the classroom. She is 75 percent finished with this goal. There are just a couple of laptops and SMART Boards left to be ordered next year.

Lynskey said her goal was to create as many opportunities for the student as possible. She has also added more performances to the curriculum and noted that the school sent four teams to the Reading Olympics, three of which came back in first place, and the final team won second place.

“It’s part of the whole package of celebrating whatever a child has and giving them the opportunity to see themselves as successful,” she said.