The grant will allow an SMU professor to nationally scale a program meant to help school-age children learn fractions.
DALLAS — SMU researcher Leanne Ketterlin-Geller was awarded a $14 million grant to scale a math program designed to help students improve their fraction skills, the university announced.
The program, called Fraction Face-Off!, will be scaled nationally to rural schools and community-based afterschool programs with the help of a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, according to a press release from SMU. The five-year project will provide support to 4th and 5th graders, the release states.
The award amount was the highest total dollar amount in SMU’s history, the university said.
“A limited understanding of fractions is a major problem in schools because fractions are the gatekeeper for future success in algebra,” Ketterlin-Geller, professor of education policy and leadership in SMU’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development and the Texas Instruments Endowed Chair in Education, said.
Ketterlin-Geller is an internationally recognized math and special education researcher, the release states.
Fraction Face-Off! instructs students to work in small groups with an educator or tutor to learn about fractions in 36 sessions, according to the release. The program was developed at Vanderbilt University and students who completed the program showed measurable improvement in their understanding of fractions.
SMU will partner with the University of Missouri, The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia, the University of Hawaii, Georgia State University and the University of California, Riverside.
