Albatross Math Students Take Flight

Albatross Textbook Publishing (ATPub)

2024 Winner of Textbook and Academic Authors Association Textbook Excellence Award

645 public school districts impacted

Up to 69% improvement on national standardized math tests

 

Introduction

For thirty-five successful years, the Albatross Textbook Publishing Company of New York, the second largest textbook publishing company in the United States, has supplied schools all over the country with K-12 science and math textbooks, workbooks, and digital materials. As a recipient of multiple awards and distinctions, the company endeavors to keep current with the needs and trends of elementary and secondary students in today’s society. 

The company’s most recent project is a set of math textbooks for middle and high school students that are relatable, intriguing, and makes use of students’ needs to relate socially with their peers. By encouraging collaboration, discussion, and healthy competition, Albatross has made mathematics fun for students and has received high praises from teachers, administrators, parents, and students alike. It has come to the rescue of hundreds of schools’ problematic math departments, providing a boost in math education and test scores. 

 

The Problem

The math department at Great Rivers High School, located in southern Illinois, is led by department head Nick Williamson. Department meetings usually consist of curriculum planning and discussing analyses of student progress. While math teachers anticipate these meetings with hope for new instructional approaches and methods of addressing common student misconceptions, they are often disappointed. Teachers’ optimistic anticipation deflates when it’s time to discuss their students’ progress. 

Challenges discussed at department meetings are all the same. Among the complaints, the greatest is that students sit quietly, seemingly unengaged with the material. They don’t ask questions, even when they don’t understand something, because they don’t want to draw attention to themselves from their peers. In such an environment, teachers cannot grasp who has mastered certain concepts, and who needs help. The only indication they receive are from students’ homework and tests. 

Exhibiting excitement while teaching didn’t help. Despite teacher Nick Williamson’s dynamic energy as he presented the matrix method of adding polynomials in algebra, his students sat still, quiet, and bored. Whenever he chose someone to answer a question or help solve part of a problem, his student would freeze from being “put on the spot”. 

Older textbooks that were used in Great Rivers High School math classes had, at one time, been praised as innovative and modern, with problems “in the real world”. Each chapter demonstrated how professionals used math in their lines of work. Yet, teachers at Great Rivers were frustrated over how to ignite their students’ passion for math.  

 

Impact of the Problem

The fact is, the troubles experienced at Great Rivers High School are similar in schools all over the country. U.S. students’ math performance dropped significantly during the Covid era, and has yet to recover. According to NAEP, the National Assessment of Education Progress, out of a total of 300 points for a perfect math score, the average twelfth grade math score is 151. Student populations that live in low-income families struggle the most, with scores of 20 points lower than middle or upper-income families. 

Students who graduate with minimal math abilities, suffer as adults. They struggle with employment, financial management, less access to internet technology, and difficulty in healthcare decision-making. 

In contrast, when students learn math well, a secondary benefit emerges. They not only learn how to solve algebraic and geometrical problems, but they learn to think. They stretch to work their critical abstract thinking “muscles” which aids them not only in math, but in other disciplines as well. 

 

To the Rescue: Albatross Math Textbook Publishers

After attending a professional math educators conference, the head of Great Rivers math department, Nick Williamson, was inspired. He heard all about a new series of math textbooks that overhauled traditional teaching methods and inspired real learning. He was excited to share this with his team and the school administrators. 

Albatross Math Textbook Publishers produced a new series of math textbooks for studies in Pre-algebra, Algebra I and II, Geometry, Trigonometry, and Pre-calculus. According to their presentation at the conference:

• From their rollout in 2011 to 2015, 252 school districts adopted their books, and demonstrated an average of 64% increase in math scores from grades 9 - 12. 
• From 2016 to 2020, 325 more school districts purchased and assimilated their books into their math curricula. 
• Today they have sold to 645 school districts, making that approximately half the public school districts in the country. 
• Each year, students’ math success ranges between 62.5% and 69% improvement on math test scores from those reported back in year 2010. 

     “We were astounded at the turnaround in just two quarters that these math books achieved. 

      Our students went from dull and bored to lively and excited to come to class!”

                                                 — Pamela Warner, high school geometry teacher

 

     “Before we started with Albatross, students were uncomfortable sharing their work with the 

       class. Now they’re so excited to share that we can’t keep them quiet enough to let 

       one person talk at time!”

                                                 — Pre-calculus Teacher at Anderson High School, Cincinnati, OH 

 

What is their Secret Sauce?

The secret to Albatross’s publishing success lies in how the math concepts are learned. Their textbooks and supplemental digital materials require student interaction. Ingredients to its  winning success are:

• Encouraging students to memorize new terms and symbols in a game format
• Inciting class discussion and collaboration
• Providing group collaboration on project problems
• Encouraging students to “teach” the concepts 

 

     “Albatross understands teenagers. They know what motivates them, what makes them tick.” 

                                               — Parent of an Albatross Junior Year Math Student

 

Part of the problem math students face is mastering the many abstract terms and symbols that are involved in high school math. Albatross understands this and not only introduces, explains, and gives students the opportunity to practice them in game formats, but they also reinforce these concepts in future lessons. Albatross connects what was already learned to newer concepts. In this manner, students have a seamless transition as they progress from one learning objective to the next. 

Albatross has renovated the old teaching model where the teacher stands at the front of the room and writes on the board while students read to follow along. Instead, students take a math problem and break into partners or groups to solve it. They’re encouraged to use the terminology they’ve learned. When sufficient time is given to solve the problem, a representative from each group shares the problem and how they’ve solved it. This way, no one person is put on the spot to be judged by their peers. Students are vocal, relaxed and enjoy the camaraderie of classwork. 

They’re often provided videos of problems encountered in architecture, construction, manufacturing, chemistry, and biology then asked to identify the problems presented in these videos. Solving such problems becomes a class project. 

Students are often tasked with teaching a problem and its solution to another group or the whole class. This makes learning fun, and ensures that students have mastered the learning material. 

Albatross math books contain some chapters that require a “flipped classroom” approach. In this situation, students read and study introductory material to a new lesson at home the day before class. Once in class they have a problem that needs to be solved. Competition is instilled when they break into teams to see who can solve it first. 

 

Differentiation 

Among the many teaching materials that accompany Albatross math texts, are workbooks and online examples to cater to students with different styles of learning. Filled with attractive illustrations, infographs, and animation, each lesson is presented with multiple examples. Short questions are presented to students frequently to ensure their understanding of the subject matter.

Digital lessons come with enhanced audio that read the texts to the student which is especially helpful for those with dyslexia or other reading disabilities. 

Students are also able to log in to these lessons at home for additional study and practice. 

 

Albatross Aligns With Standards

Each individual state has a set of educational standards and benchmarks which must be met as students progress through their math studies. Albatross Publishing ensures that their curricula meets both Common Core as well as other states’ curricula standards. The subjects and mathematical concepts within these textbooks do not differ from state standards; the difference lies in the method of teaching, which is distinctive from traditional methods. 

As students are ready to be evaluated on their progress, those who have studied from Albatross’s textbooks will shine with confidence. They’ll look forward to showing off what they have learned.

 

Conclusion

Remember when you were a student in a high school math class? Were you confident that you understood how to proceed in solving the math problems presented? Were you even sure what the problems were asking?

Many of today’s students are fortunate to be using the new Albatross math texts, and they don’t have those worries. They are able to explore problems freely, discuss them with their classmates and teacher, and enjoy the many “aha’s” that come their way as they gain more and more insights, connecting the dots, and realizing that they really are competent in math. 

Empower your math students to take flight.

Contact an Albatross representative today! 

 

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