Los Angeles, CA, Sep 14, 2011 The non-profit education researcher MIND Research Institute announced that elementary school students at 46 schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) using MIND’s ST Math® visual math software program in 2010/11 achieved a dramatic 13.6-point gain in math proficiency on the 2011 California Standards Test (CST). Teachers and students using the challenging, visual, web-based ST Math software games achieved these results in its first year of use. MIND Research officials were joined by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Meg Whitman to recognize the dramatic improvement and announce that the Whitman-Harsh Family Foundation will invest $500,000 to deliver the innovative MIND ST Math® program to ten Los Angeles schools, including five Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.
“I would like to thank Meg Whitman for making this generous donation that will bring this innovative math program with a proven track record to even more students and schools in our great city. Public private partnerships like this allow us to invest in preparing our children for college and career in the workplace of the 21st century,” said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
“Technology is the bridge that will carry students to graduation, college and a lifetime of prosperity,” Meg Whitman said. “We’re proud to work with Mayor Villaraigosa, MIND Research Institute, and education leaders across Los Angeles to expand the use of what is a transformational mathematics tool that dramatically improves comprehension and performance.”
“The remarkable average math score increases achieved by the teachers at every grade level, and by students at every level of math proficiency, help prove out our unique, visual ST Math software. We are privileged to help celebrate the success that dedicated implementation has brought to these outstanding teachers and their students,” said Andrew R. Coulson, Education Division President, MIND Research Institute.
MIND has documented similar results to Los Angeles on a large scale with thousands of students in school districts in neighboring Orange County, as well as the Silicon Valley, Orlando (FL), Chicago and Las Vegas. The ST Math approach and software taps into students’ innate ability to reason their way through visual math puzzles.
THE LOS ANGELES MATH INITIATIVE
The Los Angeles Math Initiative (LAMI) is a community partnership to help schools and teachers elevate student math performance through the utilization of the ST (Spatial Temporal) Math Program. By linking corporate, foundation and individual philanthropic partners, local education agencies and the non-profit MIND Research Institute, the Math Initiative is designed to significantly raise math scores, particularly in schools with historically low achievement levels. Since inception, the Los Angeles Math Initiative has awarded $3.6 million of grant commitments and has raised $1.13 million prior to today’s announcement.
Funders for this pilot, as part of a scale-up across the United States, include PricewaterhouseCoopers, CISCO, Wells Fargo Foundation, and University of Phoenix Foundation. Additional funding has been provided by: The Ahmanson Foundation, The Boeing Company, The Carol and James Collins Foundation, The Green Foundation, Helping Us Help Ourselves, Henry L. Guenther Foundation, Legacy Ladies, Inc., Leonetti/O’Connell Family Foundation, Opus Community Foundation, The RGK Foundation, Roth Family Foundation, The Seaver Institute, Sempra Energy Foundation and The Whitman-Harsh Family Foundation.
ABOUT MIND RESEARCH INSTITUTE'S NATIONAL MATH INITIATIVE
The National Math Initiatives Program is designed to elevate student math achievement in the lowest-performing K-12 schools in large urban regions in the United States. MIND works with local education agencies (county offices of education and/or school districts), nonprofits and corporate/foundation partners to launch our ST Math: Integrated Instructional System in these targeted schools. As of August 2011, MIND raised over $6 million towards the $27 million goal over the five year period to support schools in California, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, New York and Texas. Students at participating schools have realized an average growth of more than twice the rate of comparison schools, on state standardized math tests.
THE WHITMAN-HARSH FAMILY FOUNDATION
The Whitman-Harsh Family Foundation, established by former eBay CEO Meg Whitman and her husband, Dr. Griffith Harsh, works with partners in the community at the local, state, and national level with a primary focus on K-12 education efforts. With $100 million in assets, the foundation supports a variety of educational programs and causes that serve as lighthouse models for the future of public education. The Foundation’s funding priorities reflect the deep belief that every child has the right to a quality public education and that fighting to ensure that opportunity is the civil rights issue of this generation.
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