Junior high math classes add up to a head start for UCS elementary students

An opportunity for sixth graders to participate in a junior high advanced
math course is equaling success for nearly 200 elementary students.

The students are boarding buses at the elementary schools and heading to
their local junior high schools for an advanced math program offered to seventh
graders.

While the opportunity for advanced math courses is not new for UCS students,
the interest and success in the program has grown over the past few years.

"Students are performing better in the course," said Jeannette Junior High
School teacher Kurt Knoper. "It's a very rigorous course because we cover a lot
of material in one year."

Elementary students enroll in the course based on teacher recommendations,
performance data and pre-testing.

Knoper said the course covers pre-Algebra content for the students, including
equations, geometry, three-dimensional, and graphing.

Once the students complete the course, it allows them to move directly into courses like algebra and geometry a year early.

Elementary students said they appreciated the opportunity to come to the
junior high for an advanced class.

Once he was used to the larger hallways, Schuchard sixth grader Mathew Vatne
said he was enjoying the experience.

"Math makes you think,” he said.  “I enjoy numbers and solving problems. They
come easy to me."

Added classmate Olivia Fuhrmann from West Utica: "I think it's a good opportunity. Now I know what junior high is going to be like."