PUTTING YOUR NUMBERS WHERE YOUR MATH IS Paige McKenna, Allie Flaherty, Matt Cragg & Karley Reuscher HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES in collaboration with the GENEVA CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT RESULTS WHAT IS AMERICA COUNTS? The average growth for America Counts students from the fall to winter was 8.39 points. Due to a negative skew, the median is a better measure of central tendency. The median score was 17 points. America Counts Statistics Average Fall: 461.4193548 Average Winter: 469.8064516 Minimum Fall: 393 Winter: 368 Maximum Fall: 513 Winter: 535 The program raised the math proficiency for some students, but not for all. The average growth for those whose score increased (74.2% of students) was 21.09 points. Average Fall: 463.57 Average Winter: 484.65 The remaining students (25.8%) did not succeed in the program’s goal of raising their math proficiency, meaning their scores decreased. The average negative growth was -28.13 points. Average Fall: 455.25 Average Winter: 427.13 Before drawing conclusions we needed a control group. We compared the averages from the students involved in the program vs. those who were not. A comparison of means shows that the program did not succeed in bringing all students up to the level of the rest of the 6th grade class. On a positive note, the average for those who did improve in America Counts was higher than those who were not in the program. America Counts was established in 2005 by then senior Lindsay Brown. The program was developed in order to help Geneva Middle School students master the necessary math skills and confidence needed to succeed in higher education. America Counts is a federally funded program and is implemented in other schools such as NYU, Duke, UMass Amherst and more. HWS students apply to be a tutor and then receive training from the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning. After school hours, tutors go to the Community Center and work with 6th grade students with their homework and other math related activities four days out of the week. There are currently 31 middle school students working with the tutors HWS provides. SCOPE OF WORK There has yet to have been an assessment done on the America Counts Program to determine whether the program is succeeding in raising student’s proficiency in math. Our job as consultants to Mr. Jeremy Wattles in the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning was to provide an assessment on America Counts. Along with providing an assessment on the program in its current state we also aimed to develop and assessment tool that can be used for years to come, and provide recommendations as to how to improve the program. RECOMMENDATIONS METHODOLOGY Moving forward, we brainstormed a few recommendations that would hopefully push America Counts in a more positive direction. First, using a more strictly developed needs-based selection for the program would target the type of students that the program was developed for. Additionally, we would recommend that a subcommittee be created and utilized with regular meetings, in order to strengthen the consistency and communication within the program. Furthermore, we suggest that the program attempts to imitate models like America Reads, by doing things such as matching tutors with specific students. With that, it would be proactive to keep track of students’ math proficiencies after the program. And finally, if the goal of America Counts is for students to improve their test scores (i-Ready) then the program should have more focus to what will be on the test. For our methods, we first reached out to other colleges who have also implemented the America Counts program to see if they have done an analysis on their program. Unfortunately, we found that other programs have not yet completed an assessment, besides surveying the tutors at the end to receive feedback and recommendations. These schools asked for us to keep in touch to share our results. Secondary data analysis of i-Ready scores   i-Ready is a state-mandated test developed for the Common Core Curriculum. The test combines a valid and reliable growth measure in reading and mathematics, and creates individualized instruction in a single online product. The America Counts implemented this test in the fall, winter, and spring. Interviews with program administration We also conducted interviews with Mrs. Eysman (Mathematics Instructional Coach at North Street School), Mrs. Strassburg and Mrs. Baxter (Geneva Middle School teachers), and Mr. Jeremy Wattles (the Associate Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Service Learning). These interviews were conducted to obtain data and discover more about the details of the program.