Subtracting a 'gifted' gap in math education

Project M3 steers often-overlooked students from low income and minority backgrounds into advanced math classes.

from the April 5, 2007 edition

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That's an aspect of this class that Kevin particularly likes: "We have 'rights and obligations' in class. We're allowed to challenge an idea, but if we're wrong [or] the other person's wrong, we both learn something," says Kevin (a pseudonym used at the request of school officials). He also enjoys exercises called "Think Deeply," where he figures out multiple elements of a word problem and explains his answers. "We get really into it ... and then time flies."

"I really liked pushing the oranges with our noses," says Becca, another student, of an exercise they did built around "Wacky World Records." "We were doing line graphs. It was really interesting to see what rate you went at," she explains.

Some of Becca's homework exercises don't look too familiar to her mom. "It made me feel kind of proud that I kind of understood it better than my own mom," she says with a laugh.

The project does bring parents along, though. The teachers send home regular newsletters with math activities for parents and kids to do together. Last year, after a series of lessons on probability, families came in for a Math Night in which they played games of chance the students had designed to favor the house (the event was also a fundraiser for a service project). The kids were giddy at first, Sanderson says, and then they had to "fess up" and explain the probability involved in the games.

'One of the most impressive programs' in 30 years

Project M3 was examined by independent consultant Susan Carroll, president of Words and Numbers Research in Torrington, Conn. "I've evaluated programs for 30 years, and this is one of the most impressive I've ever seen," she says by phone. On both multiple-choice tests and open-ended questions used to measure grasp of concepts and problem-solving, students did better than peers who showed the same potential but weren't placed in M3 classes.

In Hartford, a district next to West Hartford where many schools have low test scores, students from M3 are entering accelerated math in middle school, "and it's the first time these schools have sent kids to that program," Gavin says. Having seen the benefits, principals are asking for the curriculum to be developed for higher and lower grades.

The third- and fourth-grade M3 curriculum is already for sale and is being used in 43 states, Gavin says. Educators as far away as Singapore have expressed interest in using the curriculum to increase the critical thinking and creativity in their classrooms.

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