Project StepUp - Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Project StepUp uses new technology as a tool to bolster the skills of 6th through 12th grade students who are working to prepare for the math and writing portions of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) exams. Each student receives an individual account that leads them through a computer-based programme containing 30 hours of lessons and exercises focussing on the concrete and abstract reasoning skills required for the PSSA exam. The software assists students with the process of solving math problems (identifying the goal of the problem, for instance) and writing (prewriting, drafting, and editing skills, for instance). Apangea uses artificial-intelligence-based tutorial applications to share the tutorial workload with human tutors so that more students can receive individual tutorial instruction. In this sense, feedback and active assessment are key components of the learning process fostered by the technology: tutors offer additional assistance to the students and review their work.

Future plans include launching similar community tutorial programmes with the Bloomfield Garfield Corporation, the Parental Stress Center, and the Boys and Girls Clubs. The low cost of tutoring that the technology enables will, organisers hope, address learning needs otherwise unmet in low-income areas.

Technology, Education, Children, Youth, Economic Development.

In a field study with 623 11th-grade students using the math software once per week for one school year, the concrete reasoning skills of participating students increased from 33% pre-test to 65% post-test. Pre- to post-test, the skills of control students increased from 29% to 51%. A field study of the writing tutorial programme with 852 9th grade students who used the programme for approximately 8 hours over the course of one semester found gains in abstraction, focus, sequence, and organisation. For example, just over 5% of control students gained in organisational writing skills in the course of this semester, as compared to nearly 25% of those using the tutorial.

Located in Pittsburgh, Apangea Inc. develops research-based tutorial software that is designed to help students who score below average on standardised tests. The Apangea software is intended to actively engage students by teaching them the fundamental skills used to solve problems. The company estimates that 30,000 children have used the software over the past 10 years.

The Hill House Association was founded in 1962 as part of a plan to improve the quality of life and to foster leadership in the Hill District community of Pittsburgh.