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Arlington Mathnasium manager Tori James and district manager Amy Huggins are standing by for those in need of remedial math instruction. (O.K. Carter | Arlington Report)
” data-medium-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image1-4.jpg?fit=300%2C202&ssl=1″ data-large-file=”https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/image1-4.jpg?fit=780%2C526&ssl=1″ tabindex=”0″ role=”button”>Mom and dad’s math skills — or teaching proficiency — may have slipped a smidge over the years, which is why new Arlington tutoring service Mathnasium could be useful.For example, Suzy hands dad a homework assignment to read and asks for help with dividing 123,899 by 37, followed by 19 more long division problems that become steadily more difficult. For dad, the recollection of exactly what dividends, divisors and quotients are could be a trifle fuzzy, but there’s some sense that multiplication tables would be useful. It’s a simple problem to solve with the phone calculator, except there is that troublesome “Show your work” requirement.Or maybe Junior hands mom his high school algebra assignment and asks for assistance understanding the quadratic formula. Maybe mom helps him solve a problem or two. And sure, he’s already googled it, but the explanation — it’s an equation used to solve second order polynomial equations — is not particularly useful or comprehensible. Surely mom remembers all about polynomials?Face it mom, dad: It’s a math and technology-oriented world, and becoming more so. Your friendly neighborhood public or charter school might not be getting the job done. OK, maybe your child and you have some responsibility as well. More about that momentarily.Fixing math deficiencies in school-age students has become a national industry, Mathnasium being a prominent example of an answer to the problem. The company opened this year in Arlington, with a learning classroom located in a strip center at 5005 S. Cooper St., but there are other facilities around the country. The Arlington center manager is Tori James.“Most kids have the potential to be good at math,” James said. “Some just don’t know it yet. Mathnasium provides face-to-face math tutoring for children to get them on a path toward math success by determining their specific learning gaps and needs, developing deeper understanding and confidence and through customizing instruction based on learning style with trained math tutors.”Though Mathnasium also works with students with superior math skills seeking even more improvement, the bulk of its clients are playing catch up. Also, there’s no substitute for one-on-one tutoring.Maybe you’re thinking that before signing Suzy or Junior up for tutoring with Mathnasium, or somebody else, you’d like to know just how well Texas schools and students are faring in math. Short answer: Poorly. Math scores weren’t so great before the COVID-19 pandemic. Now they’re worse.The National Assessment of Educational Progress, an exam given to a sample of fourth and eighth grade public school students every other year, measures how states’ students are performing in reading and math over time compared with a national average. It also provides a national snapshot of the impact of the pandemic on student achievement.Texas’ math scores on this exam dipped significantly between 2019 and 2022; math scores fell by 7 points for eighth graders and 5 points for fourth graders. The math declines, which follow nationwide trends, sank student achievement down to levels last seen in 2003.And then there’s the Texas Education Agency’s State Assessments of Academic Readiness, or STAAR, test.“While we are largely recovering from the effects of the pandemic in reading, much work remains in math,” Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath says.Texas ranked 14th nationally in fourth-grade math and 25th in eighth-grade math on the NAEP test.And Arlington? Fewer students met grade level in math, according to spring 2024 STAAR results.Note: Around 120 school districts sued the Texas Education Agency last year and stopped an update to the state’s A-F accountability rating system, which factors STAAR results. A Travis County judge found that the state’s changes, which were to debut in fall 2023, are unlawful and would harm districts across the state. Another lawsuit stopped TEA from issuing ratings for 2024.All that testing and politics aside, Suzy and Junior nevertheless need math skills if they’re to be admitted to and succeed at, say, UT-Arlington. Or Texas A&M. Or MIT. Or life.Which is where an individualized math tutoring specialist like Mathnasium comes in useful, the track record for which is documented. In essence, it is building brick-by-brick foundational learning.“We start with where the student is, create an individualized program and then follow up with mastery checks to see what they’re retaining,” James said. “If it’s not sticking, they keep working on it. Fill the gaps and keep building.”You may contact O.K. Carter at o.k.carter@arlingtonreport.org.