FEDERAL MONEY ON WAY GRANT TO HELP 7TH-, 8TH-GRADE TEACHERS' ALGEBRA SKILLS VIA COMPUTER.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Staff Writer

LANCASTER - The Lancaster School District will receive more than $1.5 million over the next two years, and could get an additional $238,000 in federal funds to better teach pupils through technology.

Focusing on teaching algebra and pre-algebra for seventh- and eighth- graders, the money will buy new classroom computers to improve the student-to-computer ratio from 23 to one to the state requirement of 10 to one.

The money will also buy calculators for students and train teachers in new teaching techniques for algebra.

``Students will have an increased opportunity to learn from and with computers,'' said Pat Pickus, curriculum technology specialist. ``They can use an online learning resource to firm up skills and extend their learning. Students will be able to log in from home, at school and before and after school.''

The three-year Enhancing Education Through Technology Grant is part of the No Child Left Behind Act, President George W. Bush's education reform plan.

Lancaster was one of nine school districts in Los Angeles County selected to receive part of $13 million. The district will receive about $1 million in the first year and $528,900 in the second year.

Third-year funding of $238,000 is dependent on the schools meeting certain benchmarks in the first two years, such as improvement in standardized test scores and increasing student use of computers in the classroom from 15 percent to 95 percent in the second year.

The Lancaster School District was the only one in the Antelope Valley to receive funding. The other school districts to be funded are Azusa Unified, Baldwin Park Unified, Hawthorne Elementary, Lennox Elementary, Long Beach Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Pomona Unified and San Gabriel Unified.

Pickus said district staffers and middle school principals met and identified math as an area to concentrate on. A few years ago, the state made algebra an eighth-grade requirement.

``Changes in the state framework have put algebra into the middle schools. It's really an area we wanted to focus on,'' Pickus said.

The grant requires that 25 percent of the funding be spent on teacher training, which will center on improving instructional strategies.

``We will provide them with increased expertise and content understanding of pre-algebra and algebra skills. We find a broad range of expertise among teachers. We want to assist them in better providing instruction. We also will have a coaching and mentoring component, where teachers will learn to support each other,'' Pickus said.

Teachers will get laptop computers for portability, and a projector to demonstrate on a screen or on a white board concepts they are teaching, Pickus said.

Teachers also will have access to an online source that will assist them in improving technology skills while developing classroom activities, Pickus said.

``The teachers are excited. In the past, we spent time focusing on literacy needs. This is a way to look at needs of middle school math teachers,'' Pickus said.

Karen Maeshiro, [phone]

karen.maeshiro(at)dailynews.com