Colorado Springs elementary students + math = 50K grant

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - A Colorado Springs elementary school is celebrating a major achievement in math.

District 11′s Chipeta Elementary School was awarded the governor’s ‘Bright Spot Math Award.’ This is one of two local schools that continued to keep up their math scores, despite the pandemic.

Chipeta Elementary wants to continue to make math fun, so students will continue to excel.

“I think the kids love math on the whole,” the Principal of Chipeta Elementary, Sarah Scott, said. “It’s one of those that even when it’s hard, if you can unlock that code or figure it out, it feels so satisfying. And we really work to help kids do that every day.”

The school held a ‘Multiply Our Success’ math rally right before spring break.

More than 300 students explored a room full of math activities.

Governor Polis awarded the ‘Math Bright Spot Award’ for continued growth in math scores from 2019 through last year, despite the pandemic.

“We got a phone call from the governor a couple of weeks ago announcing that Chipeta is one of 12 math bright spot award winner schools,” Michael Gaal, District 11 Superintendent, said. “That means that they were showing strong academic growth in math and achievement through Covid.”

The award comes with a $50,000 grant, going towards after-school tutoring.

“We will be doing after-school tutoring but also enrichment for kids this spring and then in the fall,” Principal Scott said. “We will be doing the same kind of enrichment during the summer. There will also be opportunities for our staff to grow in professional development in social and emotional learning and math learning to help them become even stronger as math instructors.”

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly reduced math scores throughout the country.

According to the nation’s report card, only 36% of Colorado fourth graders scored proficient or better in 2022. That number is down from 44% in 2019.

The other local school that won is Roosevelt Charter School.

“There’s math behind everything,” Gaal said. “I like to tell our students that math is the universal language of the world. Wherever you go, 2+2 still equals four.”

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