Manchester Academic Charter School
Math Web Site  

MACS Math Web Site

by W. K. Orr, MACS Math Teacher

Math Beagle

Following are links that are utilized in Math Class.

	Gomath Math Help Site		ED Helper for Math
	AAA Math Site		Yahoo Financial Information Site
	MACS Home		Game Aquarium
	BBC Math Games		BBC Math Games2
	MATHCOUNTS Web Site		DoSitey Math Activities

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	INTRODUCTION
	Welcome to the MACS Middle School Math Web Site. Our program provides a range of classes and activities, including a Math Team, to maximize the opportunity for all students to enhance their math skills. Performance expectations are set high for our math students and their standardized test scores demonstrates our students’ improvement and ability in math. Considering MACS being selected as a national Blue Ribbon Award candidate for academic excellence by the U.S. Department of Education, MACS achieving Middle States Accreditation, and MACS strong PSSA math results, we are obviously extremely proud of the accomplishments of our students.  For the 2007-2008 year, MACS 8th graders once again performed extremely well on the PSSA tests.  The state standard for math is for at least 56% of students to achieve a Proficient or Advanced rating.  MACS 8th grade easily exceeded that level with 80 % (33% advanced and 47% Proficient).  A scaled score of 1284 is the baseline score for a Proficient rating for 8th grade math PSSA.  MACS 8th graders had an average PSSA scaled score of 1421, which is near the Advanced level score of 1446.  MACS 7th graders achieved a Performance Level of 77% in Math while averaging 1423 as a class (1298 is the baseline for a 7th grade Proficient score). MACS 6th grade achieved a 77% Performance Level with an averaged scaled score of 1437 (1298 is the baseline for a 6th grade Proficient score). All of these marks are well above the state standards and MACS middle school is consistently near, or at the top of, middle school PSSA math results in the city. MACS math program is a single continuous program from Kindergarten through 8th grade. Grades K-5 utilize the Scott Foresman – Addison Wesley Math Series and grades 6-8 utilize the Prentice Hall Middle School math series.  Both series are from the same publisher Pearson Prentice Hall and form a continuous math education program.  Honors 7th grade math students take a Pre-Algebra course, also from Prentice Hall.  Additionally, Honors 8th grade math students can take Algebra I, which utilizes a Prentice Hall High School Math Series book.   During the 4th marking period, advanced math students may take a 9-week Geometry mini-Course utilizing another high school curriculum from Prentice Hall. An Honors Math class is also available in 6th grade. This class utilizes the same curriculum as the regular Math-6 class, however, they are taught at an accelerated pace. Additionally, extra projects and topics are covered in the Honors class to better prepare the students for Pre-Algebra and Algebra classes. All math books are also available in a CD form, which students may optionally choose to sign out for the year. The CD saves the student from having to carrying their math book home.   PSSA classes are provided to supplement regular classroom instruction. These classes provide a chance for students to practice skills as well as to get individual math remediation on particular skills.  Math subjects are taught strictly to the curriculum.  We do not “teach” to the PSSA tests, but we do utilize the separate PSSA classes for skills remediation to supplement the classroom curriculum as needed. On Friday morning, middle school students have a two-hour academic study block class.  During this time, students may go to any academic subject teacher for tutoring / extra help.  This time gives students an opportunity to work on any subject deficiencies or difficulties being encountered.  To aid in cultivating student interest in math, all students in 4th through 8th grades compete in at least one national math contest during the school year. These contests are in addition to the competitions attended by the Math Team. (Note: See the link above for more details on the Math Team.) Finally, this Web Site contains links to the various key non-MACS math web sites, which contain education math games or activities.

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	Homework Policy
	Students are expected to do their homework on a daily basis as assigned.  Homework is a key factor that affects the student's learning.  Doing homework on a regular basis will improve the student's learning and retention of the math topic.  6th, 7th, and 8th grade students have math homework daily, including over the weekends.   Homework is scored off an effort basis.  So if a student attempts all problems using appropriate math problem solving techniques, whether the answers are correct or not, the student receives full homework credit.  Note that tests and quizzes are graded off correctness, including partial credit potential if correct steps are being utilized. At the beginning of each marking period, middle school math students receive a packet with ten (10) math skills review sheets in it.  Students are required to complete one sheet each weekend during the marking period.  These sheets must be turned in on Monday and count as homework points.  The goal is to practice previously learned skills. Parents or students can hear the current day's homework assignments over the school phone system.  Call 412-322-0585 after 6pm and choose extension 121 for the 6th – 8th grade math room.  Assignments are recorded on there daily. Late homework assignments will not be accepted for full credit unless an absence from school is involved.  If a student accidentally leaves their homework in their locker or another room, then it will not be considered late if the student gets it to the math teacher before the end of the school day.

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	Math Team
	The MACS Math Team is open to all 7th and 8th graders to try out for.  A once-a-week Block Special class is provided for the Math Team to tryout and practice during. The Team competes in both local and national competitions and contests.  These competitions normally contain above grade level math problems, which will both challenge and enhance the students’ math ability.  They also require a lot of preparation work and effort by the students.  We are proud of how well MACS math students did in last year’s competition. The 2007-8 Math Team had notable accomplishments, especially considering that MACS is usually one of the smaller schools in these competitions. For the second straight year, MACS had a math student achieve a national academic recognition level as Bryton achieved National Honor Roll level on the AMC-8 contest.  Bryton just missed by one point of achieving a Distinguished level score (achieved by only the top 1% of competing students in the USA). At the Mathematics Council of Western PA "Algebra I / Integrated Math-2” contest, 8th grader Brianna W. achieved a score at the regional competitions which qualified her for the Western Pennsylvania finals of this competition.  Brianna ended up 38th in the finals. A second MACS student (LeVontai) missed achieving the finals by a single point. In the On-Line Academic League competition (3 rounds held through-out the school year) in which a total of 1,253 students competed, MACS had two top performers.  Bryton tied for 48th highest score out of the 1253 students who participated.  LeVonati tied for 119th position. MACS ranked 52nd out of 290 middle school teams in the less-than-400-students school category in the University of Wisconsin Purple Comet On-line contest. MACS was tied for 228th out of 979 Middle School teams overall in the Purple Comet Contest.  MACS had ~60 students in middle school last year competing against schools with many times as large. At the 2008 MATHCOUNTS® competition held at Robert Morris University, the MACS Math Team made the school proud (again) with another fine performance. The team ended up being ranked 24th. The goals of the Math Team are to: Improve the students’ overall math skills Improve students’ analytical thinking skills & problem solving skills beyond grade level Cultivate student interest in math Experience the fun and challenge of competition events that requires thinking skills as opposed to physical skills Once again, we will compete in the national MATHCOUNTS competition. MACS enters a full team (4 students competing in the both the Team and Individual events) along with 4 additional students competing just in the individual competition portion. Other scheduled 2007-2008 math competitions are: American Mathematics Competition (AMC-8) National Mathematics League Algebra Contest. Mathematics Council of Western Pennsylvania Algebra I / Integrated Math Contest Purple Comet On-line Math Competition for Middle School (jointly sponsored by the University of Wisconsin and the University of Texas) . .

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