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Students Ahead of Last Year's Pace

The Tampa Tribune
by Ronnie Blair
November 6, 1999

DADE CITY - Motorcycles and race cars help motivate Pasco Elementary students to improve mathematics and reading skills. Perform well in school and perhaps this will happen: The principal will arrive astride a Harley.

Hundreds of Pasco Elementary School students cheered wildly Friday afternoon as three motorcyclists roared up during a school celebration. Principal Barbara Munz had hitched a ride on one of the motorcycles.

Munz agreed to the unusual entrance to help the students celebrate achieving a goal. As a group, they correctly answered more than one million questions on a computer program that helps students with reading and mathematics skills. By the end of the year they plan to reach three million correct answers, just as they did last year. And they are well ahead of last year's pace.

Barbara Falkingham, a music teacher who acted as master of ceremonies Friday, said the students reached the one million mark Oct. 18. That's two months earlier than last year. "Give yourselves a hand," she told the students. And they did. As of Friday, the mark stood at 1,258,111 correct answers on the Computer Curriculum Corp. [now NCS Learn] program. The program, used in about 40 schools in Pasco County, is matched to a child's abilities. The computer asks the students mathematics and reading questions. As the students improve, the questions get tougher.

"It gets hard, the math especially," said Donna Boyd, a third- grade teacher. "We feel that is why our kids do so well." A couple of years ago, Pasco Elementary was a school the district worried might end up with an F when the state released its school grading system. But the school received a C when the grades came out earlier this year. Teachers say the students' hard work on the computer program was a major reason why. "It reinforces math skills and reading skills," said Falkingham, who was part of a team that developed the motivational plan to inspire students to get all those correct answers. "We want to do everything we can to help our students do well." This year's motivational theme is "Racing to Success." That's why the motorcyclists played a key role in Friday's celebration.

Two race car drivers—Steve Cohen of Trilby and Scot LaMar of Gainesville—also appeared with their cars. Pasco Elementary has used the computer program for five years, said Jeanmarie Whaley, the school's technology specialist.

"Our kids are much more ready to learn in the intermediate grades than they were five years ago," Whaley said. "Now we are able to do more. We are not in a remedial mode. In comparison to where we were five years ago, we are doing great." She said the computer program has become such an integral tool that it's hard to imagine getting along without it.

"It should be a given in any school," Whaley said. "If you are going to put a desk in the school, then put this system in. If you are going to put a textbook in, put this system in."

Copyright (c) 1999 by the Tampa Tribune. Reprinted by permission.