Benedum Foundation Funds Purchase Carnegie Learning Math Curricula for 18 West Virginia Schools Statewide Initiative Focuses on Improvements in Algebra I

PITTSBURGH, PA, May 10, 2006 -- Carnegie Learning announced today that 18 West Virginia schools will implement Carnegie Learning’s Algebra I curriculum with $165,000 in funding from the Benedum Foundation. The five-year purchase includes the full Cognitive Tutor® curriculum integrating interactive software sessions, textbooks, and student-centered classroom instruction and supported by an ongoing professional development program.

This adoption is the third in a multi-phased initiative by the West Virginia Department of Education and the Benedum Foundation to address the need to improve high school math scores across the State. Phases I and II purchased Carnegie Learning’s Algebra I program for 15 schools over the past four years.

The Benedum Foundation gives nearly two-thirds of its grant money annually to West Virginia, where the late Michael Benedum was born and began his career buying oil leases from rural landowners. The other third of funding goes to Benedum's adoptive city of Pittsburgh and to three counties in southwestern Pennsylvania that border West Virginia.

“Carnegie Learning’s Algebra I program is a great success in a variety of teaching and learning environments throughout the State, and we are very pleased to be extending the reach of this curriculum to another 4,500 West Virginia students over five years,” said Diana Munza, Fairmont Senior High School Math Department Chair.

Carnegie Learning was originally identified as the preferred math curricula vendor because it is one of the only true research-based curricula in the country.

“Several years ago, we began to rethink the way we were teaching mathematics in our State,” said Larry Lamb, Mathematics Coordinator for the West Virginia Department of Education. “As part of this reform initiative, we discovered that Carnegie Learning’s Algebra I program is one of the only math curricula recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as having solid scientific data showing positive effects on student learning. In practice, we’ve been able to validate that success in our implementations over the last four years.”

Carnegie Learning’s curricula is based on more than two decades of cognitive science research at Carnegie Mellon University studying how students think, learn, and apply new knowledge in mathematics. The instructional format prescribes three days a week of classroom instruction and two days a week in a teacher-supervised software lab environment. The Cognitive Tutor software was developed around an artificial intelligence model that identifies weaknesses in each individual student’s mastery of mathematical concepts, customizes prompts to focus on areas where the student is struggling, and sends the student to new problems addressing those specific concepts. A Teacher’s Toolkit provides the instructor with a report on each student’s progress on an ongoing basis.

Eighteen West Virginia schools will begin using Carnegie Learning’s Algebra I program for the next five years beginning this fall: Barbour County, Braxton County, Doddridge County, Lewis County, Logan County, Nicolas County, Pendleton County, Summers County, and Scott County High Schools; Cabell Midland High School in Cabell County, Calhoun Middle High School in Calhoun County, Oak Hill High School in Fayette County, Petersburg High School in Grant County, Hampshire Senior High School in Hampshire County, Moorefield High School in Hardy County, John Marshall High School in Marshall County, Princeton Senior High School in Mercer County, and New River Community & Technical College.

About Carnegie Learning
Carnegie Learning is a leading developer of core, full-year mathematics programs as well as supplemental intervention applications for middle school and high school students. The company's Cognitive Tutor® is helping more than 340,000 students in more than 845 school districts across the United States succeed in math by integrating interactive software sessions, text, and student-centered classroom lessons into a unique learning platform for Bridge to Algebra, Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II and Integrated Math programs. The U.S. Department of Education recognizes Carnegie Learning's Cognitive Tutor Algebra I program as one of the only math curricula scientifically proven to have significant, positive effects on student learning. Based in Pittsburgh, PA, Carnegie Learning was founded by cognitive science researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in conjunction with veteran mathematics teachers.