Learning Zone^TM After-School Learning Centers

Who Should Attend

• Mathematics teachers and teacher leaders
• Administrators responsible for mathematics programs
• Administrators responsible for supplemental education programs in their schools or districts

Goals of the Program

Learning Zone (LZ) is designed to provide in-school intervention or supplemental education services to students needing help in improving their pre-algebra and algebra skills. The program combines Carnegie Learning(r) Cognitive Tutor(r) software with WestEd teaching and learning materials, diagnostic assessment, and teacher professional development. The Learning Zone approach pinpoints the specific areas of need for each student and tailors instruction accordingly. With a focus on conceptual understanding, in contrast with memorization of formulas, Learning Zone is designed to lead to deep learning that stays with students and serves as a solid base for their continuing mathematics education. By helping students stay on a college track, Learning Zone can keep important educational options open for all students.

Format of the Classroom Intervention and After-School Programs

Learning Zone Classroom Intervention may be offered by schools as an extension to their current curriculum by integrating LZ as a second period of algebra or pre-algebra during the school day.

Learning Zone After School is offered by schools, franchisees, or community-based organizations such as Boys and Girls Clubs as a supplemental education program.

What You Learn

Whether supporting Learning Zone as an in-school intervention or an after-school supplemental program, teachers attend a three-day workshop. Teacher professional development focuses on current research about student needs and learning deficiencies in algebra and how best to use the Learning Zone diagnostic, instructional, and management tools and materials to support individualized, conceptual teaching or reteaching of key algebra objectives.

Who Facilitates Your Learning

Learning Zone professional development is conducted by WestEd mathematics educators with extensive expertise as teachers, professional developers, and curriculum developers. They collaborate with school staffs and after-school programs to plan for and implement Learning Zone in a school, district, or community-based site.

What Resources Support Student Learning

Learning Zone's targeted curriculum uses Carnegie Learning's highly successful Cognitive Tutor software along with print-based curriculum materials in pre-algebra and algebra I to help students better understand the content and to provide learning experiences that reinforce, refresh, or reteach important concepts introduced in the classroom. The
LZ curriculum focuses on key "trouble spots" in algebra that typically cause difficulty either because students lack prerequisites, they have misunderstood the content, or the material is complex and students need more time and practice with the topic.

Research indicates six content areas that often become barriers to learning algebra. These topics are covered in the learning modules:

• Signed Number Operations helps lay the foundation for algebra success.
• Proportional Reasoning promotes students' abilities to make
  comparisons, distinguishing between additive (absolute) and
  multiplicative (relative) thinking.
• The Patterns module addresses logic, mathematical reasoning, and problem-solving skills. Students will be able to connect graphic representations of the patterns they study in this module.
• In lessons on Variables and Expressions, students represent quantities with variables to write, interpret, and evaluate expressions. They translate expressions into words and words into algebraic expressions.
• The Coordinate Plane module helps build mathematics vocabulary and reinforces the concepts involved in using a coordinate plane. Students locate points in the plane and work to solve problems using the coordinate plane.
• In the module on Inequalities, students interpret and write inequalities using appropriate notation and symbols. They represent solution sets to inequalities as algebraic statements, as verbal expressions, and as graphs of points or intervals on the number line. They recognize when solution sets are infinite or finite, or, as a result of the domain, discrete or continuous. Lessons in these modules are logically sequenced for presentation and learning. Applications and word problems are embedded in the tasks, including using formulas and translating word problems to equations; and students are expected to check answers for reasonableness as well as accuracy, when appropriate.

What the Research Says

Based on study of the research on student needs and learning deficiencies in algebra (Morgan & Ritter, 2002), Learning Zone has identified a set of learning objectives for each of six key topics and a series of lessons within each topic. Each student receives instruction based on his or her individual needs, which leads to improved algebra achievement.

Costs

Annual License Fee: $2,000 per site for the supplemental after-school program; in-school intervention license fees are based on the number of teachers and students participating.

Professional Development: $10,000 for a three-day workshop for up to 20 teachers.

Student Materials Fee: $25 per module or $100 for six modules per student.

Diagnostic Testing Fee: $100 per student for the after-school program; the in-school intervention is $100 per student if scored by Learning Zone or $25 per student if scored by the school or district.

Contact Information

Steve Schneider
650.381.6410
sschnei@wested.org