Can Zeal math tutoring enhance middle school math instruction?
At the start of the ‘16-’17 school year, lead math instructor Stephanie Sluyter identified various gaps in her students’ math knowledge using NWEA MAP and other interim assessments. Her middle school students brought a large range of skill levels and misconceptions to class. Ms. Sluyter and her colleagues needed to identify the sources of those skill gaps, intervene in real time with strategies that uniquely motivated students, re-assess and adjust course — for each child, every day. Delivering this caliber of personalized instruction was overwhelming, especially in classrooms of 30+ students.
Zeal was an opportunity to add a large group of data-driven tutors to the team to lend a hand.
“Zeal has allowed for students to get targeted intervention at the level that they need it. Our students are motivated by knowing they can get support from a coach as needed, and are beginning to see better success in math class. Zeal has taken a load off of teachers of pinpointing individualized topics for remediation and instead allows teachers to focus on grade level content.”
— Stephanie Sluyter, Math Specialist
Implementation
FPA introduced Zeal to all 6th through 8th grade students January ’17 with the goal of students spending an hour per week on the program.
Ms. Sluyter implemented Zeal in a specialized “learning lab” environment where students from each grade level rotated through the lab for targeted Zeal sessions. Students would then return to their dedicated math blocks for further formative assessment and reteaching.
Students received math coaching on a variety of skills with Zeal — at grade level, on prerequisite skills nested underneath the grade level content, and, as they progressed, above grade level. With the ability to watch the coaching sessions their students were receiving (coaching sessions are all recorded on Zeal), teachers were able to keep track of what Zeal coaches were supporting their students with and make sure they also addressed those misunderstandings in their math blocks.
Impact
Over the course of Freedom Prep’s 3-month pilot period, FPA teachers quickly inspired their students to a learning trend of 1.5+ new skills mastered per student hour. By the end of March 2017, FPA students had mastered 20 new standards in Zeal on average, or an extra half year of NWEA MAP growth.
By augmenting teacher capacity with a strong tool for filling gaps in students’ knowledge, Zeal allows Ms. Sluyter and her Freedom Prep colleagues to spend more time focused on grade-level standards and less time differentiating or tutoring themselves. Zeal assistants have reduced the overwhelming amount of differentiated instruction required to deliver excellent education for all Freedom Prep students.
Originally published by Christian Sherrill at Zeal Learning — April, 2017
