The Dwight-Englewood Lower School Math Team ended its ninth year at an all-time high in participation and performance. The team was started in 2010 in an effort to build greater student engagement in mathematics and as part of an overhaul of the math program putting conceptual understanding and problem-solving at the core of the curriculum. An equally important focus has been the development of talent among a diverse group of students.
The Math Team participates in 3-5 Continental Math League contests from November through March. Students attend a weekly coaching session after school and work collaboratively to develop a repertoire of problem-solving strategies that allow them to analyze and solve a wide variety of problems when they tackle the contests individually. Each contest consists of six non-routine problems to be solved in 30 minutes. That is a mighty challenge for 8- and 9-year old children. We work hard on Math Team to build resilience in our students and to value persistence, hard work, and practice over performance.
Student enthusiasm for Math Team has never been higher. This year’s third grade team consisted of 22 students out of 34 in the grade. Even more significantly, this year we reached just over 50% participation by girls overall, and 4th grader Alexa was our ground-breaking, first-ever, female first-place winner! This year’s 4th grade team placed in the top 16% out of 139 teams, while the 3rd grade team placed in the top 10% out of 308 teams. We’re looking to close out our first decade with a fantastic year in SY2020-2021!