To print this article open the file menu and choose Print. Click here to return to previous page Article published Jan 14, 2004 Pupils to get online help with MCAS $1.4M targets math area Quick feedback to help pupils Clive McFarlane T&G STAFF A WPI professor has received a $1.4 million four-year federal grant to test a computer instructional math program that will help Worcester middle school students prepare for the MCAS math exams. The program, called a Web-based computer tutor "Assistment" system, will be directed by Neil T. Heffernan, an assistant professor of computer science at WPI. Software for the assessment system, which will be aligned with the state's math curriculum framework, is being developed, and students could begin using the program in the spring, Mr. Heffernan said. Mr. Heffernan will run the program in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University and Carnegie Learning Inc. Carnegie Mellon has a comprehensive secondary mathematics curriculum and computer-based tutoring program in use in 1,500 schools nationwide. The Worcester program, however, will be the first to be aligned with a state's standardized math exam, and could become a model for other states or school districts looking to prepare students on standardized mathematics tests, Mr. Heffernan said. Essentially, the program is an assessment tool that will recognize and highlight procedural errors as students move through the various stages of solving a math problem. As a result, the program will be able to quickly predict a student's score on a standardized test, provide feedback to teachers about how they can adapt their lessons to address gaps in students' knowledge and provide individualized tutoring to suit each student's needs, Mr. Heffernan said. "We hope to get better learning from students and to provide good reporting to teachers that will help inform their instruction," Mr. Heffernan said. "Everyone believes that teachers will do a better job if they have a better understanding of how their students are progressing." The four-year grant, which comes from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute for Education Sciences, will allow researchers to compare the performance of students who use the Assistment system to those who do not, according to Kenneth R. Koedinger, an associate professor of human-computer interaction in Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science, and the principal investigator on the project. Worcester was chosen, he said, partly because it is an urban school district with a high percentage of minority and low-income students, who, on average, perform poorly on standardized tests. "Unlike the traditional test prep, we will build a system that is focused on helping students learn as opposed to being strictly an assessment system," Mr. Koedinger said. "It's not just going to say "These kids aren't learning fractions.' It will teach them fractions. There's a real challenge of providing instruction that adapts to an individual student's needs." Superintendent James A. Caradonio said the project represents a step forward in developing an assessment tool without a "gotcha" component. The state's current assessment system, he said, provides students' results almost a year after the students have taken the test, by which time most students have moved to another grade, or have left the system. The ability to immediately gauge where students are in mastering the skills necessary to pass the MCAS will help teachers immeasurably in managing their classrooms assignments, Mr. Caradonio said. "We welcome anything that helps improve students' academic success," Mr. Caradonio said. "We are happy this program is being tested in Worcester." Copyright 2005 Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp.