LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / March 15, 2000

LULING – Many students don’t like math, but Luling Elementary School is leading the way toward making mathematics not only fun for students but a joy for teachers through the Louisiana Systemic Initiatives Program.

Luling Elementary principal Terry Matherne hosted a media tour Thursday, with teachers and students showing in the classroom how LaSIP is making a difference in math education.

LaSIP was formed in 1991 with support from the National Science Foundation, Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education and Louisiana Board of Regents and established by the governor and Legislature in 1992.

Since then, LaSIP worked with the Department of Education to develop new math and science guidelines on which state standardized tests, including LEAP, are based.

Math is one of the biggest concerns of this week’s LEAP test, especially with its emphasis on word problems and critical thinking.

“If all students taking the 1998 LEAP mathematics test, given at grades 3, 5 and 7, had scored at levels achieved by LaSIP students, an additional 7,000 would have passed,” Kerry Davidson project director for LaSIP observed.

Felecia Gomez of the St. Charles School System said when the statestandards cut back on emphasizing teaching these, St. Charles Parishcontinued using the technique and now, as the state is re-emphasizing that standard, local students are already on the ball.

At Luling Elementary, a 78-percent minority, pre-K through second grade school with an enrollment of 420 students, four teachers are LaSIP- trained, and all will be trained after this summer. In the parish, 150teachers are LaSIP-trained, and statewide more than 6,000 teachers are LaSIP-trained.

The technique seems simple – make math relevant and meaningful to students. This makes the lessons interesting and fun. The results havebeen remarkable, according to Matherne, who reported that math scores are up by 23 percentile points and more students are scoring above the 90th percentile on standardized tests.

In one second-grade classroom, Lorraine Delk taught about various geometric shapes by example. Unwrapping a Tootsie Roll, she quizzedSeantrell Bryant and Janci Zeringue.

“It’s a cylinder!” Janci said with a huge smile. And so they learn.A major part of the program is the addition to the faculty of a math resource teacher, in this case, Karen Triche. Triche regularly meets withfaculty to infiltrate math lessons throughout the day to students and carries the lessons directly to the children herself.

Assistant principal Michelle deBruler said, “It’s not uncommon to see Miss Triche stopping kids as they walk to the buses and asking them math questions.”The media walk-through was accompanied by school board president Clarence “Sonny” Savoie and board members Alfred Green and Ronald St. Pierre.

“We’re looking at this school as a model for education throughout the state,” Kimberly Johnson of LaSIP commented.

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