Montville Education Foundation Awards Technology Grant to Tyl Middle

Armed with balloons and an oversized check, directors from the Montville Education Foundation (MEF) descended upon Leonard J. Tyl Middle School, surprising Principal Mary Jane Dix that her $4, 972 grant proposal had been approved for funding.

“We are pleased to provide this grant which will benefit students throughout Montville,” said Donald Dykes, Chairman of the Grant Committee.  “Due to the generous support of Montville residents and area businesses, the Foundation has been able to continue its efforts of supporting innovative and creative educational programs and special projects throughout the Town of Montville.”

Dix submitted the grant request for laptop computers for Math Intervention Students to assist in small group instruction for the most struggling math students at Tyl.  The program will target those students who scored in the lowest two categories on the 2012 CMT tests and who have consistently struggled in math since elementary school.  The math program Successmaker, is a responsive program that diagnosis a student’s math level and provides instruction that targets their ability.  Math classrooms currently do not have computers available to them nor do they have room for desktop computers.  Laptops will facilitate the use of Successmaker for intervention students and could be utilized in the regular math classroom as well.

“I am so happy about this grant award.  It will help so many math students here at Tyl. We are very fortunate to have the MEF in Montville. On behalf of the students and teachers at Tyl Middle School I want to thank MEF for supporting our teachers who do not see limits to their instruction or the experiences the Tyl Middle School students should have,” said Dix.  “Your work is very important and appreciated."

Laptops for Math Intervention Students will meet the needs of all Tyl teachers for their intervention class, after school math classes and in the regular math classroom.  All math teachers, grades 6-8, and the special education teachers’ grades 6-8 will deliver the program.  The program addresses the needs of the struggling math students, which represent a broad range of students, and includes the multi-faceted demographics of the town.

“This program is modeled after an already successful reading intervention program at Tyl,” MEF president Linda Patton Heller said.   

“We are pleased to provide this grant which will benefit students throughout Montville. This grant fits the goals of the Montville Education Foundation.  It will provide the latest technology and teaching tools for students, putting the most up to date math programs just a click away," she said. “And most importantly, through mastery of basic math skills students will make academic progress.”

Learn more here about the Montville Education Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization and how you can make a difference.