DOTHAN, Ala. (WDHN) — Alabama middle school students are ranked last in the country when it comes to math scores according to the latest 2019 National Math Assessment.
As for Houston County School system, math has always been a strength over the last few years and assessments, but now they have seen a significant downfall.
“When the test scores came in we were surprised we expected to see a little drop due to covid but we really weren’t expecting to see the scores as low as they were so we decided to take a proactive approach,” said Brandi Paramore, Houston County Schools
Therefore Houston County Schools implemented a one on one initiative with all core classes using Chromebooks for everyday instruction and assessments.
“Another thing that we did we started having data meetings early on as soon as those test scores came back we meeting by grade and school levels, meeting with our teachers at each school identifying strengths and weaknesses at each school and as a district,” Paramore said. “Even down to each student to make sure we are providing them with training we needed.”
In fact, Republican Senator Arthur Orr who is the head of the state education fund budget is working on a proposal much like the literacy act that would require fifth graders to make a certain score on the benchmark before heading to sixth grade.
His proposal also includes math coaches, summer programs, and interventionists.
“It sure would be nice to see if the same attention would be given to mathematics as it’s given to reading, a large portion of our act scores several jobs what are they focusing on the science, the engineering, the technology those math scores,” Paramore said.
Paramore encourages parents and children to practice math outside of school hours like using a math practice booklet and utilizing after-school tutoring programs.