What is your implementation objective (Example-RTI, credit recovery, Special Ed.)?
The objective is to meet the needs of our struggling math students who score level 1 or 2 on FCAT; for our intensive math class.
How many students use Ascend ?
157
On average, how many hours per week are they on Ascend?
3 X’s a week for 20 – 30 minutes, so roughly 1 – 1.5 hours per week.
How many teachers use Ascend?
2
What were the funding sources used to adopt Ascend?
School technology funds
What were some of the challenges faced, and what were your reasons for adopting Ascend?
We had a diverse group of students performing below level in Math, but no time to differentiate instruction for them during class time. We adopted Ascend to meet the needs of each student and fill their unique learning gaps in math.
What were your desired objectives?
To get all students up to grade level. Originally, three years ago, we implemented it in such a way Level 1 and Level 2 FCAT students would have to give up an elective to work in the Ascend Math lab instead. Then, once the students achieved mastery in Ascend up to their actual grade level, then they could go back to their elective and would no longer need to use Ascend. At first the students were unhappy to lose their elective, but then they really enjoyed Ascend, and wanted to continue to use the program even after meeting their requirement, so we began allowing them to use it at home. However, since then we lost our funding to hire a teacher to monitor the Ascend Math Lab, but the program was so successful, we did not want to quit using it. So, this year was the first year that we implemented it into the homes of the actual students instead of in school. We provided a parent letter describing the necessary plugins, and how the program would work, and advised them to allow the students to work at their own pace (not to help them too much). And the implementation was a success!
What has been Ascend’s impact on student achievement, and what are the actual outcomes (Ascend results, test score results, etc)?
We are delighted with our on going results! This year, even using it from home, we had a couple students gain 5 whole grade levels! Then more typical results were: almost 13% of our students gained 3 grade levels; 14% gained two; and 21% gained 1 grade level.
