Students at the Hope High School complex have used Texas Instruments calculators this semester for free, thanks to a partnership between Texas Instruments and the University.
Together, Texas Instruments and the University donated 350 graphing calculators- with a gift from a Brown donor funding more than half - to the historically underachieving public high school in late February. Simmons is a member of the Dallas-based technology company's board of directors.
The program includes five "professional development" days for teachers, said Lamont Gordon '93, the University's director of education outreach. On a professional development day, a representative from Texas Instruments performs hands-on, interactive training with teachers while fielding questions about the particular needs of certain classes. The school has hired a calculator coordinator to distribute the machines to algebra students and teachers, according to Mark Kravatz, facilitator of school support and community/family engagement at Hope High.
Hope High was chosen for the Texas Instruments partnership because of its long relationship with the University. "Hope has been very interested and proactive about trying to reach out to Brown to do work like this," Gordon said.
The program at Hope High features participation from Brown students. Hannah Watson '08 and Cristina Rodrigues '10 coordinate the program's 15 student volunteers.
Hired by the Swearer Center for Public Service to lead the program, Watson and Rodrigues meet with Brown volunteers once a week and assign them to classrooms at Hope High. In addition to organizing volunteers, Watson and Rodrigues also help the high school students use the calculators to improve algebra skills.
Since the program is relatively young, Watson said, "nothing is as in-depth as we would like it to be in the future."
"I think it's very exciting," she said, explaining that she has already noticed "students connect with Brown volunteers in a really encouraging way."
Watson also meets with teachers at Hope High to help develop lesson plans using the calculators. She said, despite the fact that the Brown volunteers are not trained as teachers, they have made strides in winning the trust and respect of students and teachers - necessary for productive work.
Watson and Rodrigues will work over the summer to develop lesson plans for next year. While they currently only work in ninth-grade algebra classrooms, they hope to expand the program to higher levels of math and provide calculator training to those instructors in upper-level courses who would like to participate. The program is currently voluntary for algebra teachers at Hope High, and some are not involved.
By working with Hope High students, Watson said she has learned how frustrating simple algebra can be for some. One ninth-grade student, she said, could not multiply one-half by four.
Students will use the calculators through the remainder of the semester and then again in the fall, Watson said.
