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News & Information
Pa Cyber Student Leaps Three Math Grade Levels
finalist for national ‘Student of the Year' honor
Posted June 16, 2009
By Steve Esack, OF THE MORNING CALL
June 13, 2009
TROY, Pa. - A PA Cyber Charter School student is a finalist for a national award for advancing three grade levels in math in less than 16 weeks.
Samantha Ostrander, a junior from Troy, Pa., made the academic leap in one semester through study in the Academy of Math, a web-based program designed to help students quickly master math skills in which they are deficient.
PA Cyber last year began offering Academy of Math and Academy of Reading, two programs from AutoSkill International Inc., to its students who have fallen behind in math or reading. Some 250 PA Cyber students have used the programs in the past year.
Sue Koch, vice-president of marketing at AutoSkill International, said Samantha is one of four finalists nationwide for the company's 2009 Academy Star Student of the Year Award.
Samantha was selected as a finalist from among 200 nominees nationwide. She is one of 12 PA Cyber students nominated. Other PA Cyber nominees are Tauheedah Bahaadur, Gabriele Bowers, Hannah Daniels, Catherine Duman, Allison Flanscha, Cydney Francis, Victoria Hogg, Lacee Moore, Evan Murray, James Sullivan and Angelique Volper.
"Samantha did this on her own. She wanted to do this," said Leann Allen, who sent in the nomination. Allen is one of several PA Cyber teaching assistants who monitor students as they progress through the Academy of Math and Academy of Reading programs.
Allen said Samantha, who enrolled in PA Cyber only last December, was concerned because she had fallen behind in math and was worried she would not be able to pass tests needed to graduate next year. She took it upon herself to go through the Academy of Math program not once, but twice, advancing two grade levels the first time and a third grade level the second time through.
Samantha's instructional supervisor, Annie Hudson. said the girl "is not only a great student academically in her self-paced classes, but she also did a great job with the Academy of Math. I have been able to watch her grow and succeed in math, which has been an area of hardship for her. I am very confident that Samantha will only do better in math as her years go on."
Samantha's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Craig Ostrander, said they are very proud of their daughter's achievement. Autoskill International is to send Samantha a gift card and a finalist certificate.
PA Cyber offers the Academy of Reading and the Academy free of charge. Students are referred on the basis of test scores, parent request, or the recommendation of a teacher or an instructional supervisor.
The student must follow the program and work consistently in order to succeed, according to PA Cyber Assistant Principal Karry Simmel, who implemented and oversees the Academy of Math and Academy of Reading in the 8,000-student statewide cyber charter school. She said a student is asked to log onto the internet-based program to work three times a week in sessions lasting 20 to 30 minutes. The programs are available to students in grades three through 12.
Simmel said these programs take advantage of new research on how human beings learn, actually changing the way the brain processes information. Not all students in the program have fallen behind a whole grade level or more, she said. Some are students with overall good academic skills who want to reinforce certain areas in which they are not as strong.
Parents who believe their child may benefit from Academy of Math or Academy of Reading should contact his or her instructional supervisor.
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