When Professor Regina Mistretta first encountered the students
at St. Therese School in Brooklyn, Project TIE had already been up
and running for a year. St. Therese had just joined the program
after a participating school had been closed and a vacancy created.
Consequently, students at St. Therese were entering Project TIE at
a disadvantage, a year behind those in the other nine participating
schools.
Realizing that these students came from families of low
socioeconomic status and finding that their mathematics achievement
scores were low, Professor Mistretta knew this population was
clearly in need of resources.
“Initial surveys and interviews revealed parents' desire to
partner with their children in the learning of mathematics,” she
explains. “They requested information on the mathematics standards,
assessment procedures, home activities, and the use of
manipulatives (moveable objects used to concretely understand
mathematics concepts).
A 2004-2005 Research Fellow at St. John’s Vincentian Center for
Church and Society with a research interest in parental involvement
and performance in elementary schools, Professor Mistretta decided
to intervene, using her fellowship grant from the Center to create
a “Children's Literature and Mathematics” initiative. The rationale
for doing this, she says, was that “it was an action step towards
energizing the home-school connection and improving mathematics
achievement scores.”
Using books from the Pigs Will Be Pigs series by author Amy
Axelrod, she tutored parents of the children in grades K through 4
on how to use children’s literature to help their children learn
math. Using the specific titles Pigs Will Be Pigs: Fun with Math
and Money, Pigs in the Pantry, Pigs on the Ball and Pigs on a
Blanket, she created home activities, conducted workshops and held
a follow-up session.
“The books gave a context for mathematics in our world,”
Professor Mistretta notes, “and served as a springboard for
mathematics home activities related to current-day mathematics
teaching principles and curriculum standards.” She reports that
parents felt connected to the classroom and less intimidated by
their role in helping their child learn. “They viewed the home
activities as a way to spend quality time with their children,” she
continues.
From the children’s perspective, it was also a positive
experience. Their comments included, "Working with my parent was
fun," "It was nice sharing our ideas," I listened to my parent's
thinking and she listened to mine," and "This felt good because now
when I go home my parent will know what I'm talking about."
Professor Mistretta also has a positive take on the initiative.
She says the experience “solidified my confidence in implementing
parental involvement initiatives. I saw first hand how real parent
needs are concerning mathematics education, and how appreciative
parents are when strides are made to connect them with their
child's mathematics classroom.”
Learn more about what it means to be a Vincentian Research
Fellow.