NORTHRIDGE : Grant to CSUN Official to Aid in Teaching Math

A Cal State Northridge administrator has won an $83,400 National Science Foundation grant to continue improving the way math is taught in middle schools in Pacoima and San Fernando and to expand the program to two other Valley schools.

Associate Vice President of Academic Services Warren Furumoto has used a succession of National Science Foundation grants to educate teachers in the use of a state-approved “Access to Algebra” curriculum in the two schools.

The grant was nearly tripled this year because of the success of the program.

At the San Fernando Middle School, for example, the percentage of ninth-graders who passed a basic math competency test grew from 43% to 71% in three years, Furumoto said.

Even better, he said, enrollment in math classes at the school has increased. The school had one geometry class before the new curriculum was introduced and now there are four.

The curriculum requires students to solve practical math problems in groups of four. Using the grant money, Furumoto has expanded the program to Maclay and Northridge middle schools this year.

Furumoto, who sees the results of poor teaching each time he tries to recruit high school students to CSUN, said he believes colleges need to get involved as early as grade school to ensure that arriving freshmen are adequately prepared.

“I’ve always felt it is sort of too late to do it when they reach college,” he said. “We need to get in at the beginning.”