Kathryn King

January 20, 2016

kking3@wcpss.net
Herbert Akins Elementary School
3rd Grade Team
Project Description
As a third grade math team we feel our students could benefit from additional math
interventions. Currently, our school does not have any formal guides in place. We are not
equipped with a math coach, math intervention specialist, math progress monitoring program or
the like. Our students come to 3rd grade with significant gaps in their fundamental math skills
and even more deficiencies in their ability to apply math concepts in real world scenarios. It is
not news that students with lower incomes, English language learners and racial/ethnic
backgrounds show more of these deficiencies than their peers. An article in STEM Smart Brief
highlights this fact clearly. Less than half of students in these categories are performing at the
Basic level or better as high school seniors in math. Although Whites, students proficient in
English and average-income students are scoring superior comparatively, still only three-fourths
of those students are classified as only Basic. We want to see these gaps diminished across
all backgrounds and socio-economic categories. We want our students to be much more than
Basic.
To address these limitations we would like to implement Dreambox within our grade level
math instruction. Dreambox is an adaptive educational system that offers nearly 1,800 lessons
with millions of paths through the curriculum. To engage students exactly where they are, it
adjusts in real-time, adapting hints, level of difficulty, pace, and sequence. What we love so
much about this product is that it differentiates the topics to meet each child at their level. It is in
line with the Common Core standards and has been proven to be both successful and fun for
the learner. Students can access the program on ipads or computers and only need to spend
about 60 minutes per week to see strong growth in mathematical concepts. For students who
are already on grade level, the program is able to enrich these students by providing even more
rigorous concepts above their grade level, if necessary, so that all students are getting exactly
what they need. Finally, all of this data about a student is tracked through Dreambox and easily
seen by teachers, administrators and other staff members.
In order to help students be prepared to reach their full potential and lead productive
lives in a complex and changing world we feel adding Dreambox learning will significantly
increase students ability to critically think and analyze real life math concepts while filling in
necessary gaps. This research based intervention and enrichment tool provides relevant and
engaging education that will allow students to be collaborative, creative, effective
communicators and critical thinkers all the while allowing teachers and administrators to track
student progress and growth. A case study using Dreambox was done at an Elementary School
in Las Vegas where a very low socio-economic and racially diverse group of students showed
between 1 to 2 years of growth in math concepts using the program for only 60 minutes per
week for one school year. This innovative and adaptive program meets students at their level
and provides support along the way with engaging scenarios that meet Common Core
Standards. Students can use this program independently and increase their critical thinking

skills, or work with others to collaborate using math talk. This tool shows that it can eliminate
the ability to predict achievement based on socioeconomic status, race, and ethnicity because
all students were able to show significant growth. Furthermore this kind of mathematical
understanding will certainly aid in the goal of graduating 95% of students who will be ready for
productive citizenship by 2020. Lastly, with Dreambox learning every student is uniquely
capable and WILL be challenged and engaged in relevant, rigorous, and meaningful learning
each day. It is clear that this research based program will allow our third graders to make sense
of math in a way they never have before, changing the way they will forever approach math
problems in their lives.
Timeline
1. Submit grant prior to February 1, 2016.
2. Upon grant approval, order Dreambox, ipads and ipad covers.
3. Upon arrival of ipads and covers, teach students how to log in and use Dreambox. All students
will complete their initial assessment within the first week.
4. All students will use Dreambox as a math center rotation at least 3 times per week for 20
minutes each session.
5. Data that Dream Box provides will be assessed and discussed bi-weekly at the third grade
Professional Learning Team meeting and placed in an Excel document to track trends and
growth. (2015-2017)
6. Trends from the data will be used to instruct in weaker areas and can allow the teachers to
create strategy groups for those students who need more time and support in a certain area.
(2015-2017)
a. Data collected to be broken down into categories:
i.
Time on Dreambox
ii.
Percent proficient on each domain standard
iii.
Percent growth
iv.
Student input: Students will rate how much they enjoy using Dream Box 3 times throughout the
year on a scale of 1-10.
b. Data categories will also be manipulated into sub-categories to track these trends among
demographics such as race/ethnicity, socio-economic background, English Language Learners
and those with disabilities to ensure all students are making growth regardless of their
background to meet the Vision 2020 ideas.
7. For the 2016-2017 school year, additional data will be tracked using standardized tests to track
growth having used Dreambox with the students for a full school year. In Excel, students 2nd
grade End-of-Year Benchmark scores and domain standard scores will be used as a baseline.
In 3rd grade, their Mid-Year Benchmark will be added to the data and analyzed by the 3rd grade
Professional Learning Team. Finally, the 3rd graders End-of-Grade test will be added and
growth assessed. This information will be shared out at our schools School Improvement Plan
meetings, Math Committee meetings and Leadership meetings in hopes of spreading the
success through the school so that other grade levels can also use Dreambox.

Impact
We will evaluate how well Dreambox has positively impacted our students math
knowledge using the Excel spreadsheet mentioned in our timeline. Dissecting the data in
various ways to see how well all students are making progress, regardless of background and
race/ethnicity, as well as their level of engagement will contribute towards the districts goal of
Vision 2020 stating that 95% of students graduate from high school. Dreambox has been
proven not only to increase student achievement, but to increase engagement in real-world
math scenarios. We know that when students are excited about learning they are far more likely
to succeed and ultimately become productive citizens. Furthermore, Dreambox provides the
avenue for students to gain real-world connections at their particular ability level and move
forward from there. So, whether they choose to pursue higher education, technical schools, or
head right out into a career, they will have had exposure and success solving essential
everyday math skills. Finally, this project will allow 100% of students to have access to it. Due to
all of these reasons we feel that supplementing our math instruction with Dreambox will
contribute to the districts Vision 2020 goals as well as the mission set out in the 4Cs.
Budget
PERSONNEL
Item

Quantity

Price

None

SUPPLIES/ MATERIALS/ PRINTING

Item

Quantity

Price

Apple iPad Mini 2 (10 pack)

$3,730

Apple iPad Mini 2 Covers &

Screen Protectors
Covers and Screen
Protectors

10

$168.80

Dreambox

Apple Care
SUBTOTAL
TAXES
TOTAL

TRAVEL
Item

Quantity

Price

None

SUBTOTAL
TAXES
TOTAL
We are requesting the program Dreambox to access on iPad devices. These iPad devices will
be split among 6 third grade classrooms. In order to prolong the life of the iPads we are
purchasing cases and screen protectors for each iPad.
Artifact
Letter from Charlotte school. (will be attached as a file, but can be read below)

January 20, 2016

Dear Ms. King,
Thank you for inquiring about our experience with Dreambox Learning at JV
Washam Elementary School. Our school has approximately 1,000 students. We
have 77% white, 9% African American, and 8% Hispanic students. 18% of our
students are academically gifted, 20% are economically disadvantaged, and 9% are
students with disabilities.
Our district Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools purchased Dreambox for all
schools in October 2013. It was extremely easy to start-up Dreambox, and
teachers and students began using the program immediately.
We have seen a significant increase in EOG scores since we began using
Dreambox. Prior to our use of Dreambox, 67% of our students passed the NC
Mathematics EOG in May 2013. During our first year with Dreambox 80% of our
students passed the NC Mathematics EOG in May 2014. Our school maintained
80% passing in May 2015.

We have also experienced some personal examples of growth resulting from

Dreambox. Two years ago, a teacher was out on an unexpected medical leave in
first grade. I went into her class to assess students one-on-one for report card
scores. There were a few things that surprised me that students were able to
answer that I knew we had not planned to teach yet. Each time I asked students if
they had learned that at home. They always said, "No, Dreambox showed me
that." Furthermore, several parents have mentioned to me how they are amazed
as they watch their children on Dreambox because of how their children are
thinking about numbers and computation.
Dreambox has been well-received by staff, parents, and students at JV
Washam Elementary (and across our district). Teachers frequently mention how
much their students are learning from the lessons in Dreambox. Dreambox is
adaptive, and meets needs of individual students. The only complaint that I hear
from teachers is that we only have about five iPads per class! Dreambox also syncs
with Power School, so that student accounts move with children. If a child moves
schools, their current information moves with them. Parents say that their children
enjoy being on Dreambox, and that they like it because their children are happy to
play Dreambox when they are actually learning math. Our students enjoy
Dreambox because it has been designed to feel game-like, even allowing students
to earn coins and open new math tools as they progress. One parent shared with
me that her child wouldnt stop playing Dreambox to get ready to leave. Her mom
said that she was so engaged that she had to fix her childs hair while she played!
Other parents have shared stories of paying for a Dreambox account for younger
children because their elementary age children like it so much.
Dreambox is, without question, the best math program that I have
experienced to date. The content of the lessons and games builds student
understanding on a just right level for each child. The activities are fast paced
and engaging to hold student attention. Based on my experience, I would highly
recommend Dreambox for your school.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Sincerely,
Susan Copeland, Math Facilitator
JV Washam Elementary School