With Pearson's New K-12 Programs, Florida Students Will Graduate Ready to Ace College Math

Road to Success Begins With Learning Algebra Concepts in Kindergarten

Tallahassee, FL (PRWEB) November 16, 2009 -- Math and college readiness. It’s a hot topic that’s front and center in Florida today – from new state legislation funding college-readiness programs, to the President's plan to match state investments in tracking graduation readiness of high school juniors, and the National Math Panel’s recommendations for getting kids ready to learn algebra from the day they walk into elementary school. Coupled with the Florida Department of Education's “Next Generation Sunshine State Standards for Mathematics” that set new rigorous learning benchmarks and a statewide college-readiness campaign, KnowHow2GoFlorida, kicking off in 2010, the state is charting a course to make sure every high school graduate is prepared to ace college math courses and go on to pursue high-demand tech, science and math careers.

It's a perfect storm for success. Right now, every one of Florida’s 67 school districts is knee-deep in the process of choosing new math programs for the state’s nearly three million students. The decisions these educators make today will guide mathematics instruction for the next six years. The education, services and technology company, Pearson, is right there with Florida educators ready to help them tackle the math challenge with its customized programs for kindergarten through high school. Not your parent's textbooks, Pearson's programs maximize technology and the latest innovations in visual learning and interactive problem-solving techniques to improve students’ grounding in math skills. With the introduction of algebra concepts as early as kindergarten, Pearson's math programs for Florida combine ongoing assessment with intervention and differentiated instruction to put all students on the path to success.

Dr. Francis “Skip” Fennell, former president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and a member of the National Mathematics Advisory Panel, is an author of Pearson's enVisionMATH Florida, for grades K-5. Dr. Fennell said, "In our work with the National Math Panel, we discovered that students needed to be learning critical concepts, like fractions, much earlier in their elementary school education."

He continued, "Our guidepost was always ‘what do we need to do to get kids ready for success in algebra?’ I believe that you don't start teaching algebra with a course called that. You start in kindergarten with getting learners connected with patterns. You start it in upper elementary grades with getting students to begin to understand distributed properties. enVisionMATH Florida builds that foundation for learning algebra from the day students start school."

Fennell noted that 21st century careers demand a solid knowledge of mathematics. He said, “To be competitive in the job market, our students must have this strong grounding, especially in algebra. This is absolutely critical to our children’s futures in today’s global economy.”

Findings from independent research conducted by the educational research firm PRES Associates report that students of all ability levels using enVisionMATH's solid new instructional approach demonstrated significantly greater improvement than students using other math programs in the areas of computation, communication, concepts and problem solving.

"With its innovative new benchmarks for math education and adoptions of new math programs for classroom learning, our state is committed to ensuring math success for our students," said Pearson's Vice President for Florida Debbie Campbell. "As we meet with math teachers around the state during this important time of educational change, they share their enthusiasm both for implementing the new standards and the ways Pearson's innovative math programs, paired with technology, can help them put all students on the track for math competency in school and in life."

Sunshine State students will also build a firm foundation for middle grades when they learn with Florida Mathematics 1, 2, and 3 for Grades 6-8. Customized specifically for Florida from Pearson's award-winning, research-based Connected Mathematics (CMP2) program, the Florida Mathematics curriculum for middle school embeds mathematical concepts into engaging, interconnected problems, leading to higher-order thinking, problem-solving skills and a deeper understanding of math. Using a three-step “Launch, Explore, Summarize” approach, students collaborate to develop mathematical thinking and reasoning while practicing and maintaining skills.

At the high school level, Pearson's math programs for Florida will prepare students to achieve at the highest levels in college math. Prentice Hall Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2 (Honors and Regular) ©2011 for Florida - for Grades 9-12, developed for Florida and aligned to state standards, is designed to change the way students see and learn math – how they engage in the mathematics, how they understand the concepts and how they can transfer those skills to tests, college and life.

Florida schools can offer high school students who need personalized, hands on practice and interactive study aids to accelerate their math education a chance to learn with Pearson's MathXL® for School, the most widely used online homework, tutorial and assessment system in U.S. colleges and universities, now available to the high school market.

MathXL for School has a proven track record of increasing student success rates. MathXL for School's study plan helps students monitor their own progress, allowing them see at a glance exactly which topics they need to practice and generating a personalized study plan for each student based on his or her test results, which links directly to interactive tutorial exercises for topics the student hasn't yet mastered. Students can regenerate these exercises with new values for unlimited practice, and the exercises include guided solutions and multimedia learning aids to give students the extra help they need. Teachers get the benefit of never having to grade homework again and getting both class- and student-level data to help guide their in-class instruction.

As part of its overall support for states such as Florida that are working hard to ensure that all students are ready for the rigors of college math, Pearson will launch a new program, "Algebra and Trigonometry for College Readiness" in February 2010. Combined with digital resources such as MathXL, this new program is specifically designed to prepare today's students for college-level math and will be the ideal complement to the programs that Pearson has developed specifically for Florida classrooms.

For more information about Pearson and its support for math education in Florida, visit www.mathforflorida.com, an interactive Web site developed to offer teachers activities for teaching to the current math standards and making the transition to the new standards. The site includes videos, visual learning animations, problem-based interactive learning activities, and printables, games and puzzles so that teachers can familiarize themselves with what to expect in the future without sacrificing content they need for their students today.

About Pearson and Florida
Pearson (NYSE:PSO) has been providing learning materials to Florida schools for more than 100 years. As the world’s leading education and technology company, you may know us individually as Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, Longman, SuccessMaker, NovaNET, PowerSchool, SuccessNet, and so many more - names in the world of education that are recognized and respected across the state and the globe. We provide education and testing materials from birth through professional learning as well as the complex management systems that maintain student information data for thousands of schools. Our Pearson people are living and working in every school district across the state, and visiting teachers, principals and curriculum directors every single day. In fact, most teachers in Florida have learned their profession by studying with Pearson's Merrill or Allyn & Bacon textbooks, and many have benefited from our professional development programs.

We are your education partners today, tomorrow and for the future and will continue to invest in the very best instructional materials, teacher education, technology advancements, and services to help you and your students achieve success for generations to come. Like Florida’s educators, we are stable, resilient and unwavering in our commitment to our children. The challenges of today’s economy will not deter us from our mission to create innovative educational solutions customized to align with Florida’s standards for 21st century learning. For more information, visit www.mathforflorida.com.com or www.pearsonschool.com.

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