Mendota JHS School Will Expand Personalized Learning Math Program to Close Learning Gaps

May 23, 2018 – Mendota Junior High School (Mendota) will expand its partnership with New Classrooms this fall to ensure each student gets the math support he or she needs. This year, 92 of Mendota’s seventh grade students are receiving customized daily schedules, curriculum and learning experiences through Teach to One: Math (TTO), New Classrooms’ first learning model. With TTO, Mendota aims to close the gaps in students’ education while also giving them the opportunity to excel beyond expectations. Based on this year’s promising results, the program will be used with both seventh and eighth grade students this fall.

“Our teachers have always tried their best to personalize learning, and now that they have technology and a model behind them, they are able to make an even greater impact on every student,” said Randy Jarrett, principal of Mendota Junior High School. “We are seeing students mastering new routines, taking charge of their learning and learning far more than they would in a traditional classroom setting. They are more engaged and showing pride in the progress they’re making with Teach to One.”

The adoption of TTO is part of an effort to personalize learning after teachers noticed students were coming into middle school with a wide range of foundational math skills. Teachers faced the challenge of offering students varying lessons, learning approaches and timelines so they could progress through the curriculum while also catching up on any additional skills they needed to learn.

TTO provides teachers with a curated bank of high-quality learning resources that match students’ skill levels and address knowledge gaps. It assigns each student to one of nine instructional approaches, called modalities, daily based on the previous day’s assessment. The model was found to deliver 1.5 years of learning in a school year.

“Mendota Junior High School is part of a new way of doing school, one based on giving students the opportunity to master the specific skills they need, regardless of their starting points or grade levels,” said New Classrooms CEO Joel Rose. “Teachers, staff and students at Mendota have embraced personalized learning and are adapting our program to meet their needs. We’re honored to grow our work alongside them in the coming year.”

This new model of personalization helps solve an important problem: almost two-thirds of U.S. eighth graders are off track in math when they enter high school. These students have a less than 20 percent chance of graduating high school ready for college, according to ACT Research Report Series. In the 2015-16 school year, 24 out of the 25 schools using TTO saw academic gains above the national average.

About Mendota Junior High School

Mendota Junior High School’s mission is to create successful lifelong responsible citizens and leaders who will realize their full potential and sense of purpose by promoting a high level of rigor in all of its classrooms. Mendota Junior High School focuses on teaching with enthusiasm, positive attitudes, and a strong work ethic; providing safe and positive learning environments; fostering positive academic and social habits; creating effective opportunities for success; and building confident individuals who will become instruments of positive change in our world.

About New Classrooms

Founded in 2011, New Classrooms is a national non-profit on a mission to personalize education by redesigning how a classroom works – from the use of technology, time, and physical space to the instruction and content that engages each student. The founders of New Classrooms were the leaders of an initiative within NYC Public Schools called School of One, which TIME named as one of the Best Inventions of 2009. New Classrooms’ first learning model, Teach to One: Math, ensures each student is learning the right math lesson, at the right time, and in the right way that best meets their strengths and needs. It is used by thousands of students in schools in 12 states across the country. To learn more about New Classrooms, visit www.newclassrooms.org.