Teaching K-12 Math Online: Reasoning Mind CEO Alex Khachatryan (Part 5)

SM: In 2002 were you focusing only on math?

AK: Yes, that alone was a daunting task. Our vision was to go beyond mathematics because the engine itself could deliver content in any subject. We just had to start somewhere. We started with fifth-grade math.

SM: Did you only cover fifth grade?

AK: It took us two years to build a full curriculum for a grade, which we did for fifth grade. The plan was to start with one grade and implement it at schools while we developed curricula for higher grades. It took us probably more than a year to develop the sixth-grade curriculum. We did not expect that fifth-grade students would be behind, but we found out that they actually were very much behind. They were one to two grade levels behind.

We were only able to serve the population of students who were not terribly behind, so we could not help the weakest of the weakest. We were constantly getting feedback that we needed to develop something that could help even younger kids. That meant that after doing our sixth-grade curriculum we had to move backwards and develop curriculum for second, third and fourth grades.

SM: Did you build your curriculum to supplement what was being taught?

AK: We tried to do that at first, but the schools were set up in such a way that if you do something as a supplement it does not get the attention required to implement the project with fidelity. That is why we built a core curriculum.

SM: How many schools were participating in the Reasoning Mind system?

AK: In 2005, the first year we went to schools, we had 20 schools with 1,500 students. They were all in Texas. That was a huge jump because we went from 50 to 1,500 students. It was not a pleasant experience because we had no idea how to implement these projects in schools and we had no idea what barriers we were going to run into.

Results were mixed in 2005. In some schools we showed good results and in others we had no results at all. We had implemented the program as a supplement in most of the schools at that time. No schools would agree to replace their core curriculum instruction with an unknown curriculum even though we were not charging a fee as we were completely covered by philanthropy at that time.

We analyzed the results with our independent evaluator. We came up with the conclusion that we needed the full attention of schools for implementation. The following year we significantly decreased the number of schools and students enrolled in the program to 300 students. We also absolutely required that the program be implemented as a core curriculum with as much as 90 minutes a day of instruction.

We had to ask for 90 minutes of time because we had discovered that students were already behind. We had to cover the gaps in their prior knowledge as well as teach them their current grade level. On top of that, accountability was very important. We had to make sure they were ready to take state- mandated tests at the end of the year.

The project went very well that year. Results were similar to what they had been three years prior, and that paved the way for rapid expansion of the program. Ever since we have increased our enrolment year on year by a factor of 2.5.

SM: How many schools do you have now?

AK: Last year we had 70 schools with 5,700 students. This year we expect 130 schools with up to 15,000 students. We have also moved out of the state. We have a very strong presence in Texas and serve Compton Unified School District in LA. We have also been serving a school district in Louisiana. This year we will move into St. Louis. We are not in a great rush to expand as we want to make sure the programs are implemented with fidelity.

This segment is part 5 in the series : Teaching K-12 Math Online: Reasoning Mind CEO Alex Khachatryan
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