Summer algebra and science boot camps come to Morgan Hill, Gilroy

The Silicon Valley Education Foundation is offering math and science classes for an expected enrollment of 1,300 incoming eighth- and ninth-graders across 18 school districts in Santa Clara County this summer.
The final week of “Stepping Up to Science” (STEPS) and “Stepping Up to Algebra” (SUTA), four-week-long programs focused on helping students who struggle with the fundamental basics of math and science, is being held in Morgan Hill at Britton Middle School (80 W. Central Avenue) this week. Gilroy’s STEPS and SUTA programs ended last week and were held at Brownell Middle School (7800 Carmel Street).
There are two SUTA classes and one STEPS class at Britton with approximately 25 registered students per class. The classes are free, thanks to grants and corporate donations and designed to help students, who are primarily from largely underserved schools, shed their fear of math and science.
Students are recommended by their teachers from the previous semester to join the summer program if they have scored below proficiency in math and science and need to improve their understanding of the subjects.
“One in four jobs of the future will require strong math and science skills,” said Muhammed Chaudhry, President and CEO of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation. “We need to give our kids a good foundation in these subjects to prepare them for the work place and for the future needs of Silicon Valley.”
The classes use a blended learning model, which combines online and traditional classroom instruction, and teachers use technology tools to customize the learning experience for students. To help students capture and better understand math and science concepts, class sizes are small and focus solely on math or science for four hours.
Special guest visitors to the classrooms have included San Francisco 49ers’ Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott; U.S. Congressman Mike Honda; and Santa Clara County Superintendent of Schools Xavier De La Torre.
SUTA started five years ago and is considered the most successful math program in the county. The program will begin preparing students and teachers for the implementation of California’s new Common Core State Standards, which are uniform standards for all students that provide clear goals for learning.
More than 1,000 laptops have been donated by Dell Wyse to help each student work out problems, with the help of web-based programs, and to create their own educational games in class. Developing computer skills is a key aspect of the Common Core Standards.
“We use the laptops to look up definitions of words and the instructions for how to do our labs,” said Frank Metters, STEPS student at Britton.
Metters and his fellow classmate, Karla Martinez, said their understanding of science has significantly improved since participating in STEPS this summer. Martinez said the program has inspired her to hopefully one day attend the University of San Francisco and become a pediatrician.
Acknowledging that many of the students would be the first in their families to attend college, the programs offer field trips to Stanford University, Santa Clara University and San Jose State University to get students excited about campus life. Also, college students are employed as teaching assistants and mentors in the classroom.
“When we toured San Jose State, the library was just breathtaking,” Metters said. “I want to go there someday.”
Along with the summer programs, which stretch from school districts as far north as Mountain View to Morgan Hill and Gilroy and Alum Rock in East San Jose, SVEF and the Hispanic Foundation of Silicon Valley partner together to offer Saturday support sessions during the school year, called SUTA Plus.
More than 4,000 middle school students have benefited from the summer math program since its inception in 2008, and nearly 800 students have benefited from the Saturday support program.
Hispanic students as a group pose the greatest challenge to narrowing the student achievement gap. While they make up 39 percent of Santa Clara County students, only 23 percent of Hispanic students score at the proficient level in Algebra I in 8th grade. This compares with 56 percent of white students and 78 percent of Asian students.
“We are pleased to support the Silicon Valley Education Foundation” said Chester Gray, Walmart Regional General Manager. “Their efforts to close the achievement gap are remarkable. Building a better tomorrow starts with our children and we are proud to be working together to help children achieve a brighter future and live better.”
Participating school districts this year include Alum Rock, Berryessa, Cambrian, Campbell, Evergreen, Franklin-McKinley, Gilroy, Luther Burbank, Milpitas, Moreland, Morgan Hill, Mountain View, Mt. Pleasant, Oak Grove, Orchard, San Jose Unified, Santa Clara Unified and Union School District.