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| Written by Alice Knotts | |
| Friday, 18 June 2010 | |
 Freshman Algebra: if they don’t get it right the first time, they spend the next three years of high school struggling to make up for it. According to Kirk Jameson, the assistant principal of Walla Walla High School, the blanket success rate for students who score above average in freshman algebra is 80% higher in all subsequent math courses than those who receive below average marks. This year, GEAR UP and WAHI have joined forces to provide the funding, staff, and location for a six week, on-line, pre-algebra summer camp designed to steer fifty volunteer, incoming freshmen on the pathway to success in math. All graduating eighth graders from Pioneer, Garrison, and Sager middle schools were encouraged to sign up for the camp, but GEAR UP has worked exceptionally hard to recruit students whose test scores demonstrated below standard achievement on the math section of their eighth grade MAP tests. The pre-algebra course summer campers will be taking is an on-line, self-paced program. All on-line work will be monitored by an additional teacher who will be in weekly contact with each child to discuss their progress.  Students have the option of working individually from home during the six week camp, but must join their classmates four days a week for two hours in the WAHI library where they will receive assistance from two GEAR UP tutors, a WAHI math teacher, and the WAHI credit retrieval teacher. The curriculum for the pre-algebra camp is offered through Greenways Academy, and tuition for each student is between two hundred and two hundred and fifty dollars. GEAR UP and WAHI have agreed to supplement the high cost, and participants will be required to pay only twenty five dollars out of pocket. And, to put the icing on the cake, in addition to providing almost free education, critical knowledge for their future, and something constructive to do this summer, completion of the pre-algebra summer camp will also entitle students to a whole year of high school math credit. | |
| Last Updated ( Monday, 21 June 2010 ) |
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