Witnessing the moment that a light bulb goes on for a struggling student can be awe-inspiring. It’s even more rewarding when that student finds a renewed passion for learning and an excitement for a subject like math. That’s exactly what happened for the middle school and high school students who attended the Delhi Math StepUP Academy this past December during their winter recess.

In the fall, Delhi teachers and administrators reached out to students who had been struggling in their math classes. Teachers contacted the parents of these students and expressed their concerns. Then, they invited the students to attend a revolutionary new academy during their winter break that would give them a “step up” in mathematics. These teachers were determined not to give up on their students!

DataWORKS immediately got to work customizing the Delhi Math StepUP Academy. With only 10 days available during their winter recess, DataWORKS maximized each 4-hour day with strategically-selected lessons, flashcards, computer-based “tech-tivities”, and math trivia games that held student’s attention through long days of mathematics instruction.
Throughout the Academy, DataWORKS consultants visited classrooms, providing support and coaching teachers in effective lesson delivery. Teachers commented that struggling students, who had not participated in their class up to this point, were now actively participating in the lessons, writing answers on their whiteboards, and explaining how they arrived at the solution.

One common thread among teachers was the feeling that they themselves had achieved personal growth in the area of lesson delivery, thanks to the coaching and support from DataWORKS. One new teacher remarked, “My whole purpose for doing this was to learn how to be a better teacher, and I actually feel like I will have more confidence going in because now I have the tools I need to be successful.”

The StepUP Academy, created by DataWORKS Educational Research, is a customized, rigorous, and intensive academy that can be designed to remediate or accelerate students at any point during the year.

Whether you are looking to remediate struggling students or looking to give students a boost in the coming year, the DataWORKS StepUP Academy is designed to immerse your students — and teachers — in a powerful training program that will help them step up to the next level of performance.