Dallas Teacher's Methods Show Remarkable Results
Austin American Statesman
By Janine Zuniga, Associated Press
Progress of 'At-Risk' Pupils Through Special Classes Could Mean Skipping a Grade Instead of Failing.
DALLAS - The toughest calculation most kids in Martha Garcia's neighborhood were making was how many days were left to laze around before school starts. Martha was calculating the cube root of 373,248.
It took her less than 10 seconds of deep concentration standing in the sunlit living-room-turned-summer-school-classroom of her first-grade teacher. Without putting pencil to paper, she came up with the correct answer: 72.
She and a dozen other "at-risk" 7-year-olds hoping to skip the second grade meet for three hours a day at Miles Jones' apartment to add, subtract, multiply and divide.
A full-time schoolteacher, Jones said he's chosen to use his summer off to help his former students. Most can already work with powers and roots, decimal fractions, scientific notation for very large numbers and even some algebra.
"They're doing math that they'll never learn in public schools," said Jones, 45. "They are at various levels. Some of them are at a first-grade level, others are doing things that teachers in the school can't do."
Marihelen Brazile, who's working on her teaching credentials, says she's worked with Jones since they discovered a mutual interest in accelerated learning. "I'm so inspired by his work," she said. "He's working with these kids this summer just for the pure joy and love of teaching. He's not taking any money for it. He's really reaching the children, especially the ones at risk. If you turn this man loose in the [Dallas Independent School District], he would absolutely turn this place around."
Jones founded an accelerated learning program at Sam Houston Elementary School that lets students complete the elementary curriculum as fast as they want. "Most of them didn't even speak English nine months ago," Jones said.
He began teaching his first-graders how to read in Spanish, then taught them how to speak and read in English. Most finished the first- and second-grade curriculum in both languages by year's end. Some were reading Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer.
Of the students who stayed in that first-grade class the full year, 75 percent were above the 50th percentile nationally in both reading and math, and 25 percent were above the 90th percentile in both reading and math, Jones said.
His summertime students are considered at-risk because they're poor, live in the inner city and attend low-performing schools.
"My whole point, and what I'm trying to prove, is that there is nothing wrong with the children," Jones said. "It's the system that is putting them at risk. This class was not a specially selected class. This is just a regular class of kids."
A University of Texas graduate, Jones has a doctorate in bilingual and foreign language education specializing in accelerated learning. He has written extensively on Suggestopedia - a method of accelerated learning - language acquisition, memory training and quality management.
"What I want is for all the children in Texas and the entire country to be able to have a superior education," he said. "And they can."
But the basic skills that Jones teaches are threatened by a proposed new curriculum. Jones says the problem is not just in Texas, "every state has watered down its curriculum over the last 30 years." He says the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills - or TEKS - worries him because it calls for teachers to devote less time to reading and math and to focus on higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, comparison, contrast ad conceptual thinking.
It would mean that children learn addition and subtraction in second grade instead of first and wouldn't start multiplication until fourth grade, he said. August is the last month for public feedback on the new curriculum, Jones said. "You will hear over and over again that it is much more important to teach process rather than facts. What this all boils down to is [...] schoolchildren in Texas will seldom acquire a solid grasp of basic skills," he said.
"It's all done with the best of intentions, of course, but it will be disastrous nonetheless."
After the pigtailed Martha figured the answer to the cube-root question, Jones had her cross-multiply the number 72. Martha's recent study of an algebraic formula representing the graph of a diagonal line helped her learn how to quickly calculate the squares of numbers. But this one required serious attention.
After 30 seconds of mental calculations and a little encouragement from Jones, she said: "Oh, that's 5,184."
"Dr. Jones math curriculum is the most advanced, exciting and easy to implement program I have ever found. The kids excelled quickly and came to enjoy a subject they had only tolerated before. My 3-year-old learned the basics of reading and math. My 17-year-old is doing cube roots in her head. What more can you ask of a course of study?"
-Cindy Camp, Garland, Texas
"The Genios regularly stun observers with lightning-fast mathematical calculations. Children are zipping through problems most educated adults would have trouble solving even with a calculator."
-Rebecca Rodriguez, Dallas Observer
"I was in my first college math course. All of the other students were several years older than me. On the first day the teacher asked what was the fifth root of 32. Of course, to a [JG Math] student that is an easy question, but when I answered it everyone turned to look at me in awe."
-Meredith Escobar, Lancaster, Texas
"Those who have gone through this (memory) exercise, at Super-Memory seminars given by Dr. Miles Jones, memory guru and teacher, will have a hard time NOT remembering."
-Bill Marvel, Dallas Morning News
"Kevin is surging into addition and subtraction and phonics. And Maureen "loves" math. They both love the ribbons. Wow! I'm impressed. Being a math kind of guy myself, I can see the incredible depth of understanding of how the mind learns and the amount of tedious work that has gone into this. I want to encourage you because you are really on to something."
-Randle McCaslin, Austin, Texas
"When we first met Dr. Jones, Kristen was in 6th grade and needed a jump-start in math. She was suffering from math phobia and was very behind, barely able to add and subtract, let alone multiply and divide. Within that year she became a Grand Facts Master and her math phobia disappeared. She went on to be on the demonstration team and eventually became captain of the team. I tell people that she went from not being able to multiply to being able to find the cube root of six-digit numbers. Amazing!"
-Tara Rose, DeSoto, Texas
"Matrix Math is great for my children because it is individualized for each child. We were able to stay on a concept until they mastered it [...] My seven-year-old is so excited about mastering a concept. She says it "is fun and easy to do!" My six-year-old loved the dots and couldn't wait to do the next sheet. My three-year-old, Simone, is now reading after only a few months in the program."
-Angel Baldwin, Arlington, Texas
"Dr. Jones! Just wanted to thank you for all we learned last year with you and your curriculum. [...] We are using the methods you taught us and applying them to our algrebra I & II lessons. Sometimes we get confused and then a little light comes on and we remember what Dr. Jones taught us and it all makes better sense. We wouldn't be able to make it through [...] without your methods. God bless you!"
-Laura Pool, Fort Worth, Texas
"Clinton took the 8th grade TAKS practice test on the internet and scored 95% for his grade level. His teacher asked for the salt content of the ocean if it increased at a consistent rate for one million years and Clinton was able to figure it out in his head. Clinton had a bad attitude at the beginning about math [...] now after a year he appreciates what he has learned from Dr. Jones."
-Cindy Howard, Dallas, Texas
"Dr. Miles Jones founded an accelerated learning program at Sam Houston Elementary that lets students complete the elementary curriculum as fast as they want."
-Beaumont Enterprise
"Are you ready to be embarrassed by some eight-year-olds? [...] Average kids from average schools who've learned the skills to mental math that make them faster than a calculator."
-Jeff Crilley, Channel Four News, Dallas
"Charis has had a BREAKTHROUGH in addition and subtraction: 3:52 on addition and 4:09 on subtraction. Multiplication is down to right at 5 minutes. [...] She's still fluctuating between 99% and 100% on that. Interestingly enough she's at 100% in division and is just over 5 minutes. We're getting there!"
-Valerie Pope, Fort Worth, Texas
"[Dr. Jones' first grader] Martha was calculating the cube root of 373,248. It took her less than ten seconds. Without putting pencil to paper she came up with the correct answer: 72."
-Associated Press
"It's just so amazing! It really caught me by surprise!"
-Delores Chavez, Dallas, Texas
"I wanted to tell you how thankful we are that Christian has been able to be in your classes. We cannot wait to have him tested. Thank you for your ministry to our young people. It is truly a blessing."
-Chris & Lynn Ellen Petersen, Dallas, Texas
"My daughter now does math at home on her own initiative - something she had not previously been inspired to do, despite the colorful and seemingly enticing curriculum we were using. Dr. Jones uses fun and imaginative board games he has designed to help improve memory and increase knowledge. One of these games, "The Big Potato," involves the memorization of the periodic table of the chemical elements. Another game, "Harvard Yard," helps prepare students for the SAT. Dr. Jones' classes have definitely enhanced my daughter's interest in and knowledge of mathematics."
-Jennifer Kuzbary, Dallas, Texas
"A group of Dallas elementary students took on math educators from several North Texas colleges. The educators even got to use calculators. Students, who didn't, still had the right answers more quickly than the educators. At the end of the '96 school year, 13 of 20 students were double promoted from first to third grade."
-Brad Wright, Channel 8 News
"Our son (age 10) has embraced this program with enthusiasm and great success. [...] He was struggling with an "I'm not good at math" attitude. [...] The change has been nothing short of phenomenal. To quote our son: "The classes are awesome. I have fun learning math." The course has completely eliminated any fear of math, no matter how complex the problem. [...] We unequivocally recommend Dr. Jones and his [JG Math] program to any parent regardless of the age, math aptitude and experience level of their child."
-David & Veda Johnson, Dallas, Texas
"Blessings, blessings, blessings! Before [JG Math], my children loathed math! There were frequent tears and exclamations of "I CANNOT DO THIS!" But now my children, all 7 of them, are excited about math and cannot wait to do it! They love math so much after just 3 weeks of your program that they ask to do it at night and on the weekends! Thanks so much!"
-Mikaela Raine, Dallas, Texas
"The problem was to find the fifth root of 714,924,299. In less than ten seconds, three students correctly answered 59. The adults, with calculators, took more than a minute. Some never finished."
-Karel Holloway, Dallas Morning News