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CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP Santa Ana, Calif.
California Santa Ana Unified School District
Math Proficiency |
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2005 |
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2011 |
Santa Ana Unified elementary schools went from 35 % proficiency in math in 2005 to 67 % in 2011
ENRIQUE GRANADOS
“ Knowing that complete strangers decided to take a chance on me, and gave financial support to help me succeed, just gives me that much more drive.”
ENRIQUE GRANADOS
Enrique Granados was one of the first kids to learn math with JiJi in the early 2000’ s. Living in Santa Ana, Calif., he was raised by working-class parents who emigrated from Mexico. Enrique attended Madison Elementary where MIND Research Institute’ s ST Math + Music ®, which includes both a research-based music curriculum and the ST Math instructional software, was being piloted. Remembering those early experiences with JiJi he says,“ I felt like I was playing video games. It was very straightforward, you just had to get the penguin across the screen.”
Enrique’ s academic success didn’ t stop when he left Madison and JiJi behind. After attending a magnet middle school, he earned a scholarship to a private East Coast boarding school where he excelled in everything from singing in the choir to learning calculus.“ I wish math could always be this visual,” he says, when playing the new generation of ST Math games. Recently, Enrique was accepted to Georgetown University, where his journey of success continues.