Kickin' it old school: Acmetonia students going back to paper and pencil for math intervention

Old school is new school at Acmetonia after an initial dismal showing in math proficiency among its elementary students.

The Allegheny Valley School Board last week approved purchasing SpringMath as Acmetonia’s mathematics intervention program for students in first through sixth grades for nearly $7,800. The program is included in the district’s 2024-25 budget.

Jennifer Vecchio, the district’s coordinator of curriculum and instruction, recommended the program after it was piloted in first, third, fifth and sixth grade classrooms this year. She said the district is keeping its core curriculum, Eureka Math, and will use SpringMath as an intervention program for targeted specific lessons for students’ needs.

During a fall screening, only 12% of third grade students were at the instructional level for addition and subtraction for numbers between 0 and 20, Vecchio said. After the SpringMath interventions, 90% of third graders were at or above mastery, she said.

“Similarly, 16% of the first grade students on the fall screening were at instructional level for subtraction 0-5,” Vecchio said. “The winter screening indicated that 52% of the first grade students were at the instructional level. By the final classwide intervention, 88% of the first grade class was at mastery level.”

Data from the district showed students in the pilot program grew in fact-fluency for math skills at a greater rate than students who were not in the program, Vecchio said. Math fact fluency is the ability to quickly recall addition, subtraction, multiplication and division math facts.

SpringMath uses paper and pencil. Its only online component is for teachers to monitor and document students’ results and intervention recommendations. Math intervention previously was up to the teacher’s discretion, which could have been an online program or paper materials, Vecchio said.

Leveled materials are available so students above grade level are not held back, and additional supports exist for students who are struggling with certain topics.