Send Our Math Scores Soaring with RTI

Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month

This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.

My Students

Have you ever heard of working smarter, not harder? That is what RTI, Response to Intervention, is all about. RTI is teaching via proven, documented strategies. RTI is working smarter, not harder; and it works! In Math class, that includes small group work, flash cards, and highlighters.

I teach high school students who experience learning disabilities and students with low Math test scores in the great city of Chicago.

88% of our high school's students are classified as low income. The school is currently rated, "Low Academic Standing," level 3 of 3 levels. The most recent test results showed "some improvement" in Reading, but not in Math or Science. Only 13% of the students meet or exceed state standards. We are trying to improve our 79.5% attendance rate. We boast a 79.2% "Freshman on-track to graduate" rate, which is over 10 points higher than the CPS average. The most grim piece of data is that our average ACT score is almost 5 points below the state average of 20.5.

My Project

My students need simple materials like pencils, index cards, highlighters, and spirals notebooks in order for RTI (Response to Intervention) to be put into place successfully. Never fear, armed with a a dynamic principal, a dedicated staff, and curriculum based upon proven data, RTI, we will strive to combat these statistics and prevail. My students are poor, often coming to school without paper and pencils. This grant includes paper, pencils, highlighters, and index cards that will be utilized in our Math classrooms. Armed with these materials, my students will be able to learn and retain math concepts and strategies through RTI methods such as color coding, group work, graphic organizers, manipulatives, graph paper, flash cards, symbols, and chart work, all to address lagging Math scores.

Behavior is often a challenge at my high school, students are dealing with the usual teen issues of peer pressure and becoming an adult.

My students, however, battle gang involvement, teen pregnancy, drugs, alcohol, poverty, abuse, and neglect. Maximizing class time is often a struggle. However, if I can show them that they can achieve, they can see a better way, a way out of poverty, a way to college and a better life for themselves and their children.