Press Release

For more information contact:
Julie Gates
Julie Gates Public Relations
562-429-5972
jgatespr@yahoo.com
for MIND Research Institute
Booth #1523 at TCEA

Cypress-Fairbanks School District Invests in Visual Math Courseware Proven to Increase Students’ Math Test Scores

Major purchase now enables half of the leading district’s elementary schools to benefit from the non-profit education researcher MIND Research Institute’s ST Math+Music™ program

AUSTIN, TX, Feb. 8, 2007 - At the Texas Computer Education Association’s (TCEA) annual conference today, the non-profit MIND Research Institute announced that the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District (CFISD) in Houston made another large purchase of its visual math courseware for 14 more elementary schools. Now nearly half of the leading district’s 45 elementary schools are benefiting from the program. The district is investing in education researcher MIND’s ST Math+Music™ program, proven to increase students’ math test scores, to improve its third graders’ performance in math. By providing ST Math+Music to second graders at the 14 additional schools, the district is proactively preparing students to be successful in third grade, when they take the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test for the first time. CFISD is strategically working with MIND to identify academic areas where students are weakest and bring them up to proficiency before the annual TAKS once again this spring.

The ST Math+ Music visual math courseware includes MIND’s exclusive ST Math™ computer game suite, developed by its Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Matthew Peterson, along with a comprehensive instrumental music curriculum. It is designed for students in grades K to 5 to help them exceed state standards, including the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), as well as national learning objectives in mathematics and “No Child Left Behind” legislation requirements. Schools in nine Texas school districts have adopted the program, since it was introduced in the state two years ago.

“With campus and district administration supporting the ST Math+Music program, our teachers feel comfortable implementing it,” said Danielle Lutz, Ed.D., Grant Coordinator at Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. “This program teaches math concepts from another perspective and assists teachers to fill in the learning gaps for individual students. The students are able to work independently at their own pace, which allows teachers more time to help students when they have difficulty.”

When MIND consulted with administrators at the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District, one of the district’s first priorities was to help its third graders who have struggled with the mathematics portion of the TAKS. So the district tried ST Math as a pilot program with third and fourth graders. At the two schools in the district that piloted the program in an after-school setting, all of the third-grade students who participated and completed at least half of the ST Math+Music curriculum scored proficient or better on the TAKS last spring. The results were significant enough for the district to add MIND to three more schools this fall during the regular school day, and 13 more schools now.

“Including the ST Math+Music software as a part of the mathematics curriculum is a more effective way to teach math,” said Jennabeth Bogard, Director of Accreditation/Compliance/Elementary Math for Cypress Fairbanks ISD. “It is engaging and already prepared, so we believe this is a good way to support teachers in their mathematics instruction and to help students learn more mathematics.”

“The first schools at Cypress-Fairbanks to try ST Math+Music last spring were ready for a change and focused on their goal to improve students’ performance in math,” said Andrew Coulson, MIND Research Institute Education Division President. “Administrators saw our program’s potential to raise students’ math test scores, regardless of academic or language proficiency and acted quickly to bring it to as many of their elementary schools as possible.” The ST Math+Music program includes music curriculum, the MIND Research Institute’s

ST Math computer games, one day of professional development for teachers, and access to daily student status reports over the Internet. The program is offered to schools on either a per-student subscription basis or via a site license. For information about the ST Math+Music program, educators can call the MIND Research Institute toll free at (888) 751-5443 or visit its website at www.mindresearch.net.

MIND Research Institute Background

The MIND Research Institute is a community-based non-profit research organization formed in 1998 and based in Costa Mesa, CA. It is dedicated to brain research and to preparing students in grades K-12, regardless of cultural or socio-economic background, for success in school, work and society. The Institute has successfully integrated more than 30 years of breakthrough academic research on the brain at the University of California, Irvine, into applied math education programs for elementary school students. Student test results at schools that use the Institute’s ST Math+Music program have increased consistently every year. There are currently more than 200 elementary schools in California, Illinois, Louisiana and Texas with more than 36,000 students in grades K to 5 participating in the Institute’s ST Math+Music program.