In-School Program

Our in-school program is a research project designed to reinvent middle and high school mathematics. The program has two goals: to provide students with the mathematical foundations needed to succeed in high school and college, while introducing them to the kinds of habits of mind and mathematical thinking that will serve them well in any academic endeavor and to establish a culture of excellence among the students-promoting the values of hard work, responsibility and community.

Programs

University Preparatory Academy

As sixth graders, students entered two to three years behind grade level. Upon graduation, 51% graduated having already completed one year of high-school Algebra. On the ACT Explore Exam for eighth graders, 73% of students scored in the top half of the nation.

Walled Lake Western High School

82% of the students completed and passed all of Algebra I - the first year of Algebra. According to estimates provided by the staff of Walled Lake Western High School, the passing rate for similar groups of students in previous years had been around 20%.

Western International High School

In program pre-tests of 422 ninth graders, only three students were at grade level, with the remaining students two to five years behind. After one year in the program, 164 students were at grade level, with another 110 just one semester behind.

Detroit Edison Public School Academy - Early College of Excellence

In fall 2010, the Detroit Edison Public School Academy - Early College of Excellence, a charter high school in Detroit, opened its doors with 100 ninth-grade students. Wayne State University's Center for Excellence and Equity in Mathematics (CEEM) was asked to build and operate the school's mathematics program. CEEM provided its own instructors and its own curriculum. Within its program, CEEM implemented a philosophy and a set of principles and practices that had been developed in the WSU Math Corps. CEEM established four courses. The results of the first year are shown here:

Note: The 23 ninth graders in Algebra II took the released 2005 ACT Math Exam at the end of the year. Their average score was a 20.1, approximately one point higher than this year's state average for eleventh graders.

For information, please contact Monica McLeod at 313-577-8839 or monicamcleod@wayne.edu.