A guest post from Seth Feldman Ed.D., J.D., Executive Director, Bay Tech
In February of 2019, the Bay Area Technology School (BayTech) Board Members, Administrators, and Staff agreed on a goal to help all BayTech students to make substantial academic gains in English and Math. In order to achieve this effort, BayTech decided to use adaptive interactive technology to deliver individualized learning for each student. BayTech Principal Dr. Feldman stated, “The school identified a few adaptive technology programs and chose to spend considerable resources implementing them with fidelity school-wide.” One year later, BayTech is thrilled to see their students surpassing their growth & learning goals in both mathematics and language arts. The found variables contributing to this growth are programs such as i-Ready, IXL, and NoRedInk.
Utilizing interactive adaptive technology has created a new dialogue at BayTech. Students proudly walk down the halls expressing their accomplishments. “I went up 47 points in ELA” proclaims one 7th grader. Another student boasts, “Yeah, well I went up 55 points in ELA and another 3 grade levels in math.” Some students show such significant growth, other are baffled by their success. “I went up 99 points in English and 4 grade levels in math,” states Jamarius, a 7th grade student. Fellow students went with Jamarius where Mr. Ramirez, the middle school counselor, confirmed this achievement. The pride our students take in their academic growth grants many high fives from their counselor, Hershey Kisses from the office candy jar, and a numerous positive phone calls home.
This fall all BayTech students had a data chat with their academic counselor. Lead BayTech Counselor Mr. Hughes met with all high school students, “Those meetings were important in getting the students to buy into their success” states Hughes. Each high school student set a goal for growth and for college and career readiness. “The high school students took the process seriously and now they are seeing the results of their hard work.”
As BayTech returned from their Winter Break the staff readied the students for their interim assessment. “As a teacher I am really curious to see if all my hard work and the individualized computer programs were working,” said Ms. Price 7th and 8th grade math teacher at BayTech. “I was surprised to see how much my students had grown and how well they were mastering previously unlearned skills. Now, I’m still not happy.” Ms. Price continued saying, “I’m very competitive and have played sports my whole life and I’m seeing these enormous gains in English and want those same gains in my math. Math is important. Don’t get me wrong, the gains have been huge, I just want more. Sometimes I want more for them they they do and that helps them perform better.”
Here are some highlights of BayTech’s interim assessments:
6th grade—saw a 100% increase of students moving into the proficient category in English and 50% of all BayTech 6th graders grew more than 2 years in math.
7th grade–greater than 200% increase of students moving into the proficient category in English, an additional 50% of students grew 2 or more years in ELA, a 300% increase in students being on grade level in math and 50% of all 7th graders grew more than 2 years in math.
8th grade–greater than a 300% increase in math students being proficient and a 20% decrease in students being three years behind in ELA.
9th grade–saw student growth in math and English as 13% of all math students showing two or more years of growth and momentous growth in ELA as student literacy grew with 25% of students gaining 2 years or more of literacy .
10th grade saw the BIGGEST INCREASE in students moving into to the proficiency range in ELA with more than 25% of all sophomores growing more than 2 years in literacy.
“We are seeing significant growth in the areas of English and Math and we are so proud of our students,” proclaimed Dr. Feldman. “We want the world to know about our students learn, grow, and endless opportunities await them.” BayTech is a free public charter school located in Oakland, California. To learn more about the school, visit them on-line at www.baytechschool.org or follow them on social media at
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Twitter: https://twitter.com/BayTech_School
Dr. Feldman holds a doctorate in Curriculum and Instruction. His area of specialization is in using adaptive technology to help provide differentiation to all students at school. He was an ELD teacher and has taught classes in France, Israel and the US. He holds CA teaching credentials in English, History, Administration and Multiple Subjects.