MidSchoolMath LLC's interactive storytelling ain't your father's math class. Instead it teaches students algebra while they virtually sail the open seas, ride a spaceship to Mars or hunt for treasure at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge. And teachers are reporting significant improvements in student math performance because students are remembering story lines and associated math, not formulas.
The Taos-based startup earned a perfect score in April in every area reviewed by EdReports — a national nonprofit clearinghouse that reviews and ranks nearly all mainstream educational curriculum in the U.S. — making it the nation's No. 1 middle school math curriculum.
It's about time we used the words "math" and "No. 1" in the same sentence. EdReports is generally considered the most credible source for instructional materials, says MidSchoolMath co-founder and CEO Scott Laidlaw.
Students' math skills notoriously plummet from fifth to eighth grade. MidSchoolMath is intended to stop the "midschool math cliff" with immersive storytelling and computer games. It's working. The program that began with $4.3 million in state, federal and other funding has already earned about $3 million and is used by fifth- to eighth-graders in 120 schools in 23 states, with more coming.
So far, 11 school districts in New Mexico have adopted the curriculum. Others should check it out. In a state where just 20 percent of our K-12 students can do math at grade level — and that was pre-pandemic — we need to find and use every tool we can to ensure students grasp the math concepts needed to advance in academics and ultimately the workplace.
This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
©2021 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.). Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
