11/27/2015

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Interview Results .............................................................................. - 6 -
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The Detroit Public school system serves a large volume of impoverished children living in the
Detroit area who don’t receive a lot of help academically. The Math Corps program was started in collaboration with Wayne State University in order to help students in inner-city schools get ahead in their academic career and to also inspire students to aim for higher education goals. The program used to be funded by the DPS system many years. However in recent years the program has shifted to privately funded donors with no DPS financial involvement. This has caused several DPS programs to stop informing students and parents about this valuable program.
Our method of research analysis includes staff interviews with current Math Corps administration and teachers. We spoke to a professor who has been teaching students in the summer program for years. We then interviewed a Math Corps staffer who was also a former graduate of the. Our research analysis of Math Corps revealed that the program is definitely making an impact but is also falling short in the follow areas:

The program marketing is mostly online and with the use of flyers and is no longer communicated in DPS schools anymore.
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There is not enough space on campus to increase the volume of students each year.

There are not enough teaching assistants and staff to work with all the students to provide specialized attention.
Our possible solutions for these problems include:
1.
Setting up a joint meeting between DPS administrators and Parent Teacher Associations to ask them to inform students and parents about this program.
2.
Meet with the Dean of Students at Wayne State to discuss the possibility of opening more classrooms to increase student volume in the program.
3.
Meet with Math Corps teaching staff to discuss a possible increase in teaching assistants.
4.
Gather more current data from PTA meetings and Math Corps staff to present to donors to ask for more funding to increase student volume.
We recommend overall speaking with DPS schools first and convince them with our raw data that if they help spread the work via the classroom or PTA meetings then it will greatly market the program better. Lastly we can look for a private donor who can help fund the extra tutors for students to help pay for the extra space for the program.
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Math Corps is a tuition-free program for Detroit Public School students who receive advanced academic enrichment and mentoring at Wayne State University. The program was created in
1992 to help bring kids from the inner-city into an environment that teaches them to have confidence in their own abilities reach higher educational goals. Many students are left behind and struggle academically in inner-city schools which leaves them highly unprepared for college.
The overall mission of this program is to teach students to believe in their own abilities despite their environment. The program includes a six-week course over the summer that takes place on campus. The total number of students in the program is 120 each summer. Each classroom has a professor that teaches the concepts daily. There are also teaching assistants and college assistants that help setup the classroom and guide the students after the lectures. Also Wayne
State building staff is on site to help with emergency situations that may arise.
The program serves grades 7, 8 and 9 for current active DPS students. In order to gain access to the program students are required to apply online via the Math Corps website for consideration.
Then Math Corps administrators review the applications and choose the right candidates for the course. In order for high school students to become teaching assistants they are interviewed during the summer program to see if they qualify based on their academic record and dedication to learning. The program also provides a light breakfast and lunch for the students and gives them a break from the classroom to help them bond with their mentors. The staff and mentors during this time work with students to increase their confidence in their own abilities. In the following research paper we will look at the marketing capability of this organization throughout the years. Our research hypothesis is whether or not Math Corps is able to reach its entire target audience easily after its change in funding from DPS to private donors.
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
Dr.Christopher Nazelli Wayne State Professor of Mathematics

Ms.Chantel Fletcher Match Corps facilitator
We used our laptops during the face to face interview to take notes on Microsoft word. We also used Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Excel to build data and graphics into our report. Lastly we used google plus to communicate electronically face to face live with our group to collaborate our research findings.
In order to gather research data and information we used direct face to face interviews to gather our raw data. We met with Dr. Christopher Nazelli who is currently an active Wayne State mathematics professor. He is also one of the teachers who teaches students in the program over the summer and is involved with the program as an administrator.
We also met with Shantel Fletcher who is a Math Corp facilitator and former graduate of the program. She currently works at Wayne State’s Mathematics department and helps facilitate program operations.
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For the list of questions we discussed with our subjects please see Appendix A further below in the report.
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
Math Corps is no longer funded by DP but instead by private donors.
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Math Corps’s application system is fully online.
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There is not enough space on campus to increase admission to more than a 120 students.
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There is not an even distribution of help for students who are doing really well or struggling or stuck in the middle.
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Over 90% of students are highly successful in this course and go on to higher education and perform very well academically.
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The retention rate is extremely high and many students return to mentor the program.
1%
14%
85%
Grade of A
Grade of B
Grade of C
Data showing feedback from parents and students about the Math Corps Program. An overwhelming 99
% gave Math Corps a rating of a B or higher on a scale from A (Excellent) – F (Failing).
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100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Pre-Test Scores Post-Test Scores
The Blue represents the test scores of the students before entering the program, and the orange represents the test scores after completing the program.
85
84
83
82
81
80
79
88
87
86
Participant
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
On Average, The Math Corps Summer Camp and High School Bridge program annually retrains over 80 percent of the previous year’s participants.
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Our main hypothesis behind this research topic was to investigate if Math Corps can successfully reach all DPS students and their parents. Our results indicated that many schools no longer inform their student body about this program. When the program first started there was a strong link between DPS and Math Corps due to the joint financial funding. This financial link however ended a few years ago and Math Corps turned to private donors. The program now relies mostly on flyers and word of mouth from previous students and their families to spread the word. This is effective on a small scale within a small group but clearly is not enough to reach the entire innercity district. Our group attempted to reach out to several DPS schools but several of them did not hear about the program. Due to this disconnect it can lead to many talented students in inner-city schools getting left behind and not being able to advance their academic mind.
Overall Detroit Public Schools have some of the lowest testing scores in the state of Michigan and many of its students rarely go to choose degrees in engineering or medicine. Many of the students are part of low income families and struggle to form strong long-term academic goals.
Many of the school’s don’t inform students about STEM programs or encourage students to seek advanced help to prepare themselves for college. Due to the environment and struggle faced by many students’ inner-city students severely back basic math skills and is proved by Math Corps entrance exam. Usually students score less than 30% on entrance scores which shows they are highly unprepared for high school and college level mathematics.
The key focus on our research results came from our interview with Dr. Nazelli and Ms. Fletcher about the progress of students in the program. Supported by raw data in the results section of our report we see that graduation and retention rate of students is very high. Over 98% of students who join this program find it extremely useful and go on to choose STEM related programs.
Compared to testing from the first day of class to the last day of the program, the students proficiency level increase from 30% to almost 90% during exam testing. Over 85% of students score an A and less than 1% scores less than a C on exams. This is due to the strong lesson plans created by the professor. When students entered the program they struggle with basic mathematical concepts but after completion of the entire program they excelled in complex math concepts that pushed them towards interests in STEM programs according to our interview candidates. Also our data indicated that less than 1 – 2 students drop the entire program only due to family emergencies. The program although small is highly efficient and many students complete the course through levels 7 to 9 and then apply to come back as a mentor and tutor.
Students are also exposed to more information about STEM programs which they did not hear about in their DPS classrooms. Many professors who teach the course come from STEM backgrounds so they instill in the children that they have the potential to reach high end programs.
Next we look at the issue of staffing and spacing on the college campus for this program. There are currently only two sites open for use on campus with a maximum capacity of 120 student’s total. There is no room for the program to grown without the means to accommodate those new students. In order to increase capacity Wayne State University must approve this change. The
Math Corps administration will also need to hire more student teaching assistants and professors to help facilitate the new quantity. Based on our interviews we learned that the students who
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struggle a lot tend to get a lot of extra help and the students who excel are left alone. Lastly the students that are stuck in the middle don’t get much help and tend to get lost in the flow. There is not enough assistants to give everyone an equal share of attention so the program is working on a system to slowly fix this problem. We learned that each of these students are at different levels academically so it hard for the teaching assistants to match each student with the proper amount of attention. This issue is clearly a staff issue and an increase in teaching staff would require more private funding by donors.
The next result of our interview was showed us another key aspect of the program besides math enrichment. We learned that a major component of this program is professors spending a lot of time instilling strong values in the kids. Many kids lack a supportive foundation due to their environment and the teaching staffs strive to fill this gap. Beyond mathematics the professor instill that despite a lower income and harsh reality surrounding them they can still achieve greatness. They truly believe that with this foundation they can push students to excel in other areas of their lives to build strong character and confidence.
The next part of our research was focused on the funding of Math Corps which can affect almost every aspect of the entire organization. The group used to be funded by Detroit Public Schools and Wayne State University which created a much larger network for marketing and recruiting.
Due to budgetary and management issues that is no longer the case, the entire program is now
100% privately funded through private sources with varies donation amounts. This is a key problem which can affect future grown due to insufficient funding amounts that can make it harder for the program to grown. Private funding can be useful if the Math Corps program can show an increase its applications due to better marketing which can convince its donors to get more involved in the program. However gathering this data would be expensive and would require more staff to travel to each DPS school to conduct a survey with the students.
Our next result looks into the fact that Math Corps is still currently only a DPS benefit. The reason for this specificity is because many inner-city schools serve lower income families that don’t get many of the benefits that other schools in higher income area would receive. However that does not mean that there are not students who can benefit from this program. Targeting a specific area might also overshadow and leave out many other students who are mathematical gifted and are looking to advance their knowledge ahead of a college career. Increasing the demographic of the program can also lead to more funding and a stronger clientele base for Math
Corps to expand its horizons.
From our interview we found out that Math Corps is currently growing in 2 other cities in Ohio and New York but the push for more is very low. There is some struggle due to lack of more funding and links with schools that are preventing the program from expanding even more.
Currently the program will not accept applications from students outside the DPS group and there no plans as of now to expand to school districts outside of inner-city systems. Our interview process overall led us to conclude that Math Corps is definitely interested and willing to expand its mission and staff. This relates to our overall hypothesis that in order to expand its mission the program must target the DPS system first so that more parents can be aware of the benefits and then reach out schools outside the Detroit area.
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Steps to take in order to fix the holes in the program are as follows:
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Network with DPS PTA organizations to get parents to push the schools to work with
Math Corps and inform their students to apply if they are interested
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Work with DPS principals to inform them about the effectiveness of the program and to even start promoting STEM degrees to their students in specific courses like math and science.
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Gather more data from parents by asking them to fill out surveys more current which can be taken to the private donors via Math Corps upper level staff to convince them to help support the program more with strong evidence.
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Using the same data we can also meet with the Wayne State dean to discuss the possibility of adding one more lecture hall for the students
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Meeting with Math Corps professors to develop a system to make sure students of all academic levels receive the same level of attention.
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In conclusion of this report our overall hypothesis was to test if Math Corps was efficient and if it had any holes in its design currently that would lead to problems. Based on our research conducted we were able to prove our hypothesis and definitely found several issues that affected the group. We believe that the program has several good points which have strong results based on our evidence. However based on our recommendations we can follow a path to fix the problems. Our findings indicate that a growth in Math Corps can only be possible with further funding and a strong marketing program that can make their mission much more easily known and accessible for inner-city students.
Creating a link between the DPS and Math Corps with the correct backing from Wayne State,
Math Corps and DPS collaboration can open the doors to many schools and help draw national attention to the program. This can overall also affect the image of inner-city Detroit schools and show the rest of the state that Detroit has the connections to help students grow. This can also lead to parents choosing more Detroit based schools especially if they hope to guide their children into STEM programs. These steps can lead to increased state funding if these schools can prove their students are passing academic state exams with higher scores to the better training. Overall Math Corps and the city of Detroit can definitely help change the lives of many children with the right guidance and training.
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1.
What is your position with Math Corps?
Ans: I am a current active professor for the program and I also teach Math at Wayne State
University.
2.
What is the primary website for parents and students to reach Math Corps?
Ans: Website morthcorps.org
3.
How do you reach the students?
Ans: WSU Staffers used to go to DPS schools and talk to people but now it’s mostly online based along with flyers and word of mouth.
4.
How do you choose teaching assistants?
Ans: After they complete the program based on their academic record they are interviewed for the position.
5.
How do you choose kids for the program?
Ans: Our staff reviews applications and we choose kids based on a variety of factors and talents that will make them great candidates.
6.
Who monitors the kids?
Ans: High school teaching assistants and mentors along with professors who teach the classes.
7.
What are the grades you teach in the program?
Ans: 7, 8 th , and 9 th
8.
What are the classes you cover?
Ans: Real numbers, fractions decimals, college algebra, real numbers, operations, algebra, discovery courses, infinite series, fractal geometry, probability.
9.
How does the classroom setup work?
Ans: 120 Kids total, each classroom has a professor, 2 TA’s and a mentor.
10.
What are the pre testing scores?
Ans: 20% to 80% to who enter the program fail basic level math
11.
How do they score towards the end?
Ans: Almost 95% test over 95% which is an A.
12.
When did the program begin?
Ans: Early 90s it started close to 25 years.
13.
Are students able to keep up with college level math?
Ans: They are able to keep up with college level mathematics through calculus
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14.
What accounts for the lower scores in the beginning?
Ans: Low incoming scores due to improper training in the inner city schools
15.
How many math courses does the DPS system make kids take?
Ans: DPS system requires them to take 1 course
16.
Are most of the students from lower socio economic environments?
Ans: Yes most of them come from that area.
17.
Is there any other Math Corps locations?
Ans: Cleveland, Philadelphia and upstate New York.
18.
Do you use an evolving curriculum?
Ans: The curriculum has been developing, solid levels that cover important concepts.
19.
How involved parents?
Ans: Parents are involved in it strong roles, they can come in and talk to the professors, see kids make presentations, results are given to see how they test and if extra testing is needed or help.
20.
How can you make the program tuition free?
Ans: Private donors and funding. No longer funded by DPS and Wayne State
21.
Do Wayne State Students take part in this program?
Ans: Yes they do
22.
Do only professors teach?
Ans: Professors lay out the main concepts and the TAs help them move on.
23.
What do the college assistants do?
Ans: Maybe 20 CA’s help around with the program with classroom activities
24.
How is the marketing with the program?
Ans: Not really that great and not many people know about us
25.
Why are students struggling in DPS?
Ans: DPS is really tough. Poverty surrounds it. Being able to connect with kids in an urban environment and work with them.
26.
Do you have enough spots?
Ans: Highly limited to the program. DEMAND outweighs the spots. 120 at each site.
27.
Do many students drop or stay fully?
Ans: Rare when they drop and 99% pass fully. Students don’t drop the students – attendance requirements and heavy rules.
28.
Are you open to more kids?
Ans: Capacity to handle all the kids is a big problem trying to keep up with the kids it’s too many.
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1.
Did you start the problem in 7th grade and complete it all the way till 9th?
Ans: Yes I graduated through all levels
2.
What did Math Corps teach you?
Ans: Being part of the group – instills values in you like courage and motivates you to move forward.
Having the courage to fail and move on.
3.
Did you have a role model?
Ans: Dr. Khan helped me believe u can do it. We had Different role models at each level, program
TA’s and CA’s and professors
4.
How did this program help motivate you?
Ans: Math corps really motivated you, made you more ambitious about school.
5.
Did your high school counselor help?
Ans: Counselor at my school helped me a little bit but not in detail.
6.
How did you hear about it?
Ans: A counselor told me about it. They heard about it through friends.
7.
Do you feel more DPS Schools need it?
Ans: Yes definitely it can make a huge difference.
8.
What was the major problem with the program?
Ans: Students who excelled got awards, most attention was focused eon students who are really struggling and they get a ton of help and the middle students don’t really get a lot of attention and they get lost in the loop
9.
Did math corps tell you about STEM?
Ans: Yes they told me about a possible career in STEM.
10.
Did your DPS School tell you about STEM?
Ans: A lot of DPS ignore stem advanced programs. Math corps promotes it to help students come back and teach with their STEM Degrees. It is a good program for inner cities and failing school systems.
11.
What key component helped you the most?
Ans: They always told me to aim high and purse high end goals because it was within me.
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Edwards, Thomas, and Stephen Kahn. "Math Corps Summer Camp: An Inner City Intervention
Program." Taylor & Francis Online. N.p., 16 Nov. 2009. Web. 03 Dec. 2015.
"Math Corps Interview." Personal interview. 16 Nov. 2015
Khan, Stephen. "MathCorps.com - Wayne State University." Math Corps - Wayne State
University. N.P., N.D. Web. 03 Dec. 2015.
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