The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 1

The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan

Chelcy D. Ross

The University of British Columbia

 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 2

INTRODUCTION

It takes a village to raise a child is a well-known African proverb. Wayne Jennings

(2002) concluded that “bringing educators, parents, other community members,

and students to the decision making table results in less blaming and finger pointing

and more genuine problem-solving behavior” and “dramatically improve(s)

education”. The School Act of British Columbia enables parents to form a Parent

Advisory Council (PAC) to discuss matters affecting their school and the education

of their child. A PAC member volunteers, organizes school events and now they are

also burdened with the responsibility of fundraising to support their child’s

education. This is due to the fact the British Columbia provincial government has

decreased public education funding. Thus, school districts are contending with

increasing cost that are attributing to “exhausted teachers and exhausted budgets”

(Robertson, 1996) and forcing them to “find alternative sources of revenue” (Fallon

& Poole, 2013). This epidemic is not contained to British Columbia, for in California

the state decreased funding causing some school districts to almost go bankrupt but

their PTAs kept them afloat (Tran, 2014). Our school has identified numeracy as an

area of concern with a need for greater support. Muir (2014) determined that

students who enjoy technology found that online math resources appealed to them

as they could navigate their own learning. As such, the PAC at Dallas Elementary

School has funded an online math program called Mathletics. Some studies have

proven that online math games increase student achievement thus creating a more

positive attitude towards this sometimes difficult subject (Zhang, 2014). Since the
 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 3

Mathletic website boosts about being “Canada’s No.1 Math Website, The next

generation in learning…” and on the recommendation of the School District #73’s

district math coordinator the Dallas Elementary PAC made the costly purchase of a

school subscription to the Mathletics program.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

The Parent Advisory Committee at Dallas Elementary School has inquired whether

teachers wish to renew or cancel our subscription to a program called Mathletics.

The Mathletics program is an online math program designed to enhance students’

academic performance from grades one to seven. For students, it provides activities

aligned with BC curriculum outcomes, online competition of basic math facts, and

problem solving games. For teachers, it allows assigned activities that correspond

with the prescribed learning outcomes, diagnose and target students’ strengths and

weaknesses. As every dollar spent within a school is accounted for and allocated

appropriately this action research will determine; (1) What will the weekly use of

the Mathletics program attribute to a grade 5 student’s academic achievement of

number sense concepts? (2) How are students engaging in the program? (3) How

are teachers utilizing the program? The data collected will ultimately answer the

question, is the program worth funding or should we look to allocating the money

elsewhere?

CRITICAL REVIEW Of The LITERATURE

I chose to find research pertaining to Parent Advisory Councils (PACs), the funding

of public education and resources about online math. Majority of information

 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 4

pertaining to PACs and funding were opinion articles written in journals. I choose

these articles, as the authors were reputable and passionate about the subject

matter. A common theme that emerges throughout the articles is the need for all

parties with a stake in public education to work together to ensure student success.

Also, funding towards public education is decreasing thus school boards have to

prioritize, and there is a move towards privatization of schools. In Wayne B.

Jennings article How to Organize Successful Parent Advisory Committees (2002) he

provides a user friendly, basic idealism of how to organize a PAC. He states who

should be on the committee and why, providing members the tools needed to be

successful in the PAC, and the relevance of a Constitution. In his article he actually

includes another article to support his position on why PACs are so important. He is

repetitive in his idea that all parties need to work together to have a successful

school. Although, informative he provides little research to support his claim.

Putting student success at the center of planning and budgeting is written by

Samantha Tran (2014) a senior director of Education Policy for Children Now. She

informs the reader of successful ways to implement the State Board of Education’s

directed Local Control Accountability Plan. The article is straightforward and well

organized although it is biased. Whose Business is Education? By Heather-Jane

Robertson (1996) is a short article written for other academic colleagues. She

strongly expresses her opinion of how funding towards public education is

decreasing therefore enabling corporations to infiltrate the school system by

funding partnerships with school districts. This also gives larger corporations an
 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 5

ability to dictate what happens within the school system. Although, she is passionate

about her research I found it difficult to read and she does not provide any

references within the article. But, at the end of the article there is a note pertaining

to a book she co-wrote which may have a more detailed explanation along with

references. Unfortunately, I did not have time to read this at the time of this

research plan. John M. Kuhn author of two books and the article Standing Up For

Public Education is about how the Texas government continued to slash funding to

education and choose to ensure standardized tests were implemented rather than

securing teacher jobs. He is very passionate about his work and writes an easy to

read article. Although, he does not list his references rather he states his opinions

and his observations. Gerald Fallon and Wendy Poole (2013) wrote the article The

emergence of a market-driven funding mechanism in K-12 education in British

Columbia: creeping privation and the eclipse of equity. This is a comprehensive

qualitative study that examines the history and effect of funding changes to the

British Columbia’s education system. It provides background information, an easy to

read overview of Bill 34, case studies of various school districts within our province.

It contains numerous resources to enhance the creditability of their research and

analysis. Within the articles pertaining to online math common themes that

emerged were students enjoy engaging in online math games and the students enjoy

the ability to take the initiative in their own learning. Although, in order to utilize

the full effectiveness of online math resources teachers do need to support and

assist students. Google, Mathletics and Khan Academy: students’ self-initiated use of
 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 6

online mathematical resources by Tracey Muir (2014) is mixed study in which the

researcher has all the participants complete a survey and analyzes it thus

quantitative research. As well, she conducts qualitative research by interviewing

several of the participants. The paper is well organized, follows research guidelines

in presenting and conducting research. She focuses on student from grade 5-9. She

includes all of her data. She analyzes it effectively using Qualtics for the quantitative

data and reflexive iteration for the qualitative data. She states where further

research is needed and limits to the study. She also includes multiples references. In

the article Understanding the relationships between interest in online math games

and academic performance by M. Zhang (2014) is a year long quantitative study that

analyses public data on the use of 3 math websites and national test scores from 4 th

grade students. Zhang provides easy to read tables and figures when analyzing his

data. He justifies his analysis as well as the limitations to the study but he fails to

note that basing academic performance on one standardized test limits his findings.

He provides excellent background information with plenty of references to support

his research. Another paper I read was Teaching Math Online: Current Practices in

Turkey by Omur Akdemir (2010). Akdemir conducted a qualitative study using the

snowball sampling method to select various online math professors at Turkish

universities. As this concept is newer to Turkey, the researcher was able to

concentrate on four participants. He effectively conveyed the themes that emerged

from his study within a table and justified his findings. He did include where further

research is needed but he did not include any limitations to his study. Also, his paper
 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 7

included 20 references with 3 being to papers he wrote or co-wrote and 1 to a

conference he gave. B. A. Serianni and K. Coy conducted a qualitative study

examining online math courses for students with disabilities titled Doing Math:

Supporting Students with Disabilities in Online Courses. The is a comprehensive study

focusing on a grade 7 student with emotional/behavioral disorder and a grade 6

student with a mathematical learning disability. The researchers provide the reader

with plenty of questions to ask prior to enrolling a student with disabilities and the

role of those involved. They do provide their data as well as plenty of references.

Although, their discussion is lacking, as they do not include where further research

is needed nor do they identify the limitations to their study.

RESEARCH METHOD

Description of the Research Method

As these research questions pertain directly to our school community I will be

implementing an action research plan. I will perform an experimental study in

which I will compare the Number Sense Unit Test results from my grade 5 class to

the other grade 5 classes taught by other teachers. I will be implementing the

weekly use of the Mathletics program whereas my colleagues will not.

As well, my students and all Dallas Elementary teachers will complete surveys

pertaining to the Mathletics program.

Participants

The research will focus on 50 grade 5 students from Dallas Elementary School. My

class of 29 students will be the experimental group who will engage in the weekly
 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 8

use of the Mathletics programs while the remainder grade 5 students will not. The

rationale for selecting these participants is convenience and accountability. As

already mentioned this is a school based concern therefore the data needs to be

collected from our school. I can ensure that my students will participate in the

program weekly, whereas other teachers may not be able to do so. This is one of the

reason why I choose not to collect data for all the grades. The other reasons I choose

to exclude the other grades are varying curriculum content and time constraints. An

ethical issue related to this study is ensuring I have permission from my principal to

conduct the study and present my findings to the PAC.

Instruments

Students will write a Number Sense Unit Test and complete a short survey about the

Mathletics program. All Dallas Elementary teachers who teach a grade will complete

a survey about their thoughts on the Mathletics program.

Procedure

The research will take place in the classroom as well as the computer lab. My job

will be to teach my class the number sense unit, implement and mark the test as

well as ensure they receive weekly computer time so they can engage in the

Mathletics program. The other grade 5 teachers will be expected to teach the

number sense unit, implement and mark the test. I will be expected to ensure my

class completes the survey at the end of the unit. All classroom Dallas Elementary

teachers will be expected to complete a survey pertaining to the Mathletics

program. I will collect and analyze the data.

 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 9

Research Design and Analysis

The reason I have chosen to implement an action research plan is not all schools in

our district subscribe to the Mathletics program, and the Dallas Elementary PAC is

determining whether or not to continue to fund this program at our school making

this a school concern. From the Number Sense Unit Test I will create line graphs to

visually display the results from the experimental group (grade 5 students who

received the weekly use of the program) versus the control group. The student

survey and teacher survey results will be displayed using pie graphs. This will allow

staff, parents, and the PAC to easily interpret the results and determine whether the

program is beneficial to our school community. I will also make note of any relevant

additional comments shared within the surveys.

SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES

To begin with grade 5 students will be taught a unit on number sense using the

Nelson Math Focus 5 program. The experimental group will engage in 1 computer

block of 30 minutes weekly on the Mathletics program to enrich their understanding

of the number sense concepts being taught. The control group is the grade 5

students who are not receiving enrichment of the Mathletics program. All grade 5

student will complete a Number Sense Unit test and I will compare the experimental

groups results to that of the control groups. At the end of the unit, my grade 5

students will complete a survey and all classroom Dallas Elementary teachers from

grades 1 to 7 will complete a survey.

 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 10

DISCUSSION

The significance of the study is to determine if the Mathletics program is a

worthwhile program that PAC should continue to fund to improve math

performance. The study will also determine if students’ math performance is

enhanced due to the weekly use of the program. It will show if students and staff

enjoy using the program. Lastly, if it is determined that the program is worthwhile

and the PAC should continue to fund it then the study will identify staff who may

need more assistance with the program.

LIMITATIONS

Unfortunately, we have only one computer lab and we receive two 30 minutes of

computer time per week thus sometimes computer time may be limited. The other

grade 5s are in two classes of grade 4/5 therefore the teachers may preteach more

than straight grade 5 class. Another possible problem could be if the other teachers

supplement another math program other than the Math Focus 5 or switch to

different math program half way through the unit.

REFERENCES

Akdemir, O. (2011). Teaching math online: Current practices in turkey. Journal of

Educational Technology Systems, 39(1), 47.

Fallon, G., & Poole, W. (2014). The emergence of market-driven funding mechanism

in K-12 education in British Columbia: creeping privatization and the eclipse

of equity. Journal of Education Policy, 29(3), 302-322.

Kuhn, J. M. (2015). Standing Up for Public Education. Education Digest, 80(8), 4-8.
 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 11

Jennings, W. B. (1989). How to Organize Successful Parent Advisory Committees.

Educational Leadership, 47(2). 42.

Muir, T. (2014). Google, mathletics and khan academy: Students’ self-initiated use of

online mathematical resources. Mathematics Education Research Journal,

26(4), 833-852. 

Robertson, H. (1996). Whose business is education?. Canadian Dimension. 30(6). 31.

Tran, S. (2014). Putting student success at the center of planning and budgeting.

Leadership, 44(1). 32-35.

Serianni, B. A., & Coy, K. (2014). Doing the math: Supporting students with

disabilities in online courses. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 46(5), 102-

109. 

Zhang, M. (2014), Understanding the relationships between interest in online math

games and academic performance. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning.

doi: 10.1111/jcal.12077

APPENDIX

Number Sense Unit Test

Name:________________________ Date:__________________________

Chapter 2 Test – Grade 5

1. A) Model the number 829 646 on the place value chart. (1 mark)

Hundred Ten Thousands Hundreds Tens Ones

Thousands Thousands
 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 12

a) Write the number of a) in words. (1 mark)

2. Jesse wrote three numbers in expanded form. Write these numbers in

standard form. (3 marks)

600 000 + 400 000 + 70 000 + 8000 = ___________________________________________

400 000 + 20 000 + 3000 + 600 + 50 + 2 = __________________________________

400 000 + 70 000 + 800 + 1 = _________________________________________

3. a) Arrange these numbers in order from least to greatest: (5 marks)

565 127 565 120 566 112 556 128

556 121

_______________________, _______________________, _____________________, ______________________,

_______________________

b) List three numbers between 284 531 and 285 396. (3 marks)

__________________________, __________________________, _________________________

4. Ethan used 816 792 stitches to make a quilt.

a) Write the words for the number of stitches. (1 mark)

b) Round the number in a) to the nearest (3 marks)

 Hundred thousand __________________________________________

 Ten Thousand _______________________________________________

 Thousand ____________________________________________________
 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 13

Student Survey

Date:_________________________________________________

MATHLETICS STUDENT SURVEY

Please circle the answer that best describes your feelings after using the Mathletics
program.

1. Did you enjoy completing the Mathletics lessons?

A. Always
B. Sometimes
C. Rarely
D. Never

2. Did you enjoy playing on the Mathletics website?

A. Always
B. Sometimes
C. Rarely
D. Never

3. Do you feel that you understood the math concepts better because you
participated in the Mathletics program?
A. Yes, I think I did a lot better because of it
B. I think I did a little bit
C. No, not at all

4. Would you tell your friends to use the program?

A. Yes
B. No
C. Maybe

5. What was your favorite thing about the program?

_____________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. What was your least favorite thing about the program? ______________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
 The Fate of the Mathletics Program at Dallas Elementary: An Action Research Plan 14

Teacher Survey

Our PAC is trying to determine whether or not they should continue to provide
funding to the Mathletics program. Please take a couple minutes to complete the
following survey. The results will be analyzed and presented to the staff as well as
the PAC at the next PAC meeting. THANK YOU for YOUR INPUT!

1. Do you use the Mathletics program on a regular basis?

A. Yes, I use it all the time
B. Somewhat
C. A little bit
D. Not at all

2. If you do use it on a regular basis, do you find it helps your student’s academic
achievement?
A. Yes
B. A little bit
C. No, not at all
D. Not sure
E. Not applicable

3. Do you feel comfortable using or allowing your students to use the Mathletics
program?
A. Yes
B. Somewhat
C. A little bit
D. Not at All

4. Would you be interested in learning more about the Mathletics program?

A. Yes
B. Maybe
C. No

5. Do you think PAC should continue to fund the Mathletics program?

A. Yes
B. Maybe
C. No

6. Any Other Comments: ____________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________