URI, Cranston East work to improve test scores

URI PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS and Cranston East teachers and administrators got together to help high school seniors score higher on standardized tests. / COURTESY URI MATH DEPARTMENT
URI PROFESSORS AND STUDENTS and Cranston East teachers and administrators got together to help high school seniors score higher on standardized tests. / COURTESY URI MATH DEPARTMENT

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Math professors and graduate students at the University of Rhode Island are offering Cranston East High School seniors help in math, URI announced Tuesday.

The aim is to help the students score higher on their NECAP standardized tests.

About 60 students are attending a three-day math program at URI’s Kingston campus Tuesday, Aug. 13 through Thursday, Aug. 15. They are focusing on algebra, geometry, and word problems, according to a release.

The group has also spent the summer taking free online math courses through nonprofit Khan Academy. URI math department teaching assistants helped the high schoolers online.

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“We need to do everything we can to give kids the opportunity to pass the NECAP,” said Cranston East Assistant Principal Christopher D’Ambrosio in a statement. “The URI program is a great way to start a collaboration between public school education and the state’s flagship public university.”

URI math professors and Cranston East administrators developed the program amid concern over the high number of juniors who failed to earn a score of partial proficiency on the math portion of their NECAP tests.

Organizers said in the release they would like to expand the program to other high schools, potentially with the help of a grant.

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