Darius has 4 pets. Kya has 2 more pets than Darius. How many total pets do the two friends have?
No matter how long it took you to work out the answer to that question, chances are a student at School Street Elementary could’ve beaten you to it.
In the 2023-24 academic year students have collectively completed 24,176 Imagine Math lessons — the most of any school in Pennsylvania.
If you do the math, that equals 8,295 hours and 52 minutes, or almost 346 days — nearly an entire year’s worth.
All that practice added up to a state championship, as School Street defeated Philadelphia’s Julia R. Masterman High for the 2024 PA Keystone Math Cup title.
Imagine Math is a computer-based program that students at School Street and Fretz Middle School use to practice essential math skills and apply their learning at school and at home.
Imagine Learning associate Bogdan Naskovic visited the school this week to present their trophy.
Superintendent Katy Pude said, “We are so incredibly proud of our School Street students and the faculty and staff! To be first in the state and to win this math award just demonstrates how committed they are to learning as well as the incredible pride they have in their school.”
School Principal Sarah Tingley said, “At the start of the year, we set our Wildly Important Goal (W.I.G.) that all fourth- and fifth-grade students would complete 40 lessons or more in Imagine Math.”
Lessons are assigned in pathways based on grade-level content, Tingley said, “so students can’t ‘play’ the system by completing lessons that are too easy for them.” Students take a pre-quiz and, if successful, they pass the lesson immediately. If they don’t pass the pre-quiz, they go through a tutorial and receive additional practice. At the end of the lesson, they take another quiz to earn credit for passing the lesson. If they don’t pass a second time, they are assigned another lesson with more assistance.
Teachers monitor student pathways and as they are completed, add another one. It can be the same content at the next grade level, or different content that they will see later in the current year.
Thus far, 79% of School Street’s fourth- and fifth-graders have completed at least 40 lessons.
Sherry Rodgers, paraprofessional who supervises the school’s keyboarding lab, has students complete one lesson every week before beginning their keyboarding class.
Tingley said, “Her support has been key to our success. She works with students to ensure they pass their lesson and provides the extra motivation that is sometimes needed.”
Tingley added Andy Bell provides an update every week on the announcements to keep the students motivated, “and he adds quirky puns that the students look forward to hearing.”
Stacy Gallagher created a hallway of achievement for all the students who meet their W.I.G. as well as those who pass more than 100 lessons.
“As you can see, it is a collective school effort, which makes this celebration even more special,” Tingley noted.
Additionally, Kristie Steffan, an eighth-grade teacher at Fretz Middle School, earned a pizza party for her fourth-period class for being among those with the most successfully completed lessons in the state.
“We are very proud of our students’ and staff’s hard work and perseverance this year,” Tingley said. “The teachers have done a remarkable job of having the students track their progress and holding them accountable to meeting their goal.”
