Wharton Independent School District

Wharton ISD is a small rural school district in Texas with only one high school - Wharton High School. Faced with accountability testing and math teacher shortages, Wharton High School began using The Algebra 1 Classmate with Mr. Maggart in the fall of 2001. The computer lab was outfitted with the program, and Wharton teachers received training on how to effectively integrate the program into their existing curriculum. Classes spent one to two days a week in the computer lab working on the program. In addition to classroom use, the program also provided on-demand tutorial support. In the spring of 2001, only 15% of students at Wharton High School passed the Algebra 1 end-of-course exam. According to the recently released spring of 2002 results, the passing rate for Wharton High School students improved to 29%. Among African-American students, the increase in passing rates was most dramatic, up from 4% in 2001 to 25% in 2002. Significant gains were also seen among Hispanics, economically disadvantaged students, Title I students, as well as ESL and At-Risk students.