Students struggling to grasp new mathematical concepts or missing homework deadlines can now find an additional source of aid in the Math Center. The Math Center is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 3:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. in the Interactive Lab across from the media center. Run by math coordinator and teacher Saida Willocks, the Math Center strives to offer students help beyond the classroom.

“You want to think for yourself, be a problem solver, and do as much critical thinking as you can and then we come and meet you there to facilitate that process,” Willocks said.

The center opened the first week of the new semester and has already assisted over 115 students in its first month, with math teachers holding their afternoon tutorials in the Math Center.

“There are more teachers around to help, and you get more than one understanding on what you’re doing,” freshmen Anaiah Bedford said.

Planning for the Math Center began last semester after the program was allocated $10,000 of the $30,000 donated last year by the Boys’ High Alumni Association.  The remaining funds are being used to create a reading program and further the progress of the existing Writing Center.

The Grady Math Department was heavily involved in the development of the program and met several times prior to the center’s opening to create a schedule and teaching materials.

“I think we have a really good group of people who work together and like to help each other,” math teacher Peyton Morris Williams said.

Staffing for the Math Center includes Willocks, who is available every afternoon, and the other math teachers who take turns volunteering.

“We normally have at least three teachers in the Math Center every day, and they’re not getting paid,” math instructional coach Tekeshia Hollis said. “So everyone is volunteering their time in order to help.”

The program is also looking to recruit student tutors.

“Sometimes students learn more from peer-to-peer interaction,” Hollis said.

The Math Center is incentivizing students to tutor with the opportunity to earn community service. Over the next month, the Math Center plans to partner with the Grady Education Enhancement Club to bring in student tutors.

“When you’re on a budget, you have to make it stretch,” Hollis said.

With no immediate need for additional resources, teachers are using what they already have to assist students, including worksheets and existing software programs such as Ingenuity and Alix.

“We don’t all teach alike, like not all students learn the same way,” Williams said. “I was always a visual learner, so that’s why I use a lot of circles because you can pull them out and you can see what’s really happening instead of me just giving you a math rule.”

While many students come to the Math Center to finish make-up work or homework, Willocks suggests that students utilize it for test prep.

Last year, students took the first ever Georgia Milestones. The tests account for 20 percent of  students’ final grades in Coordinate Algebra and Analytic Geometry. At Grady, roughly 21 percent of students were rated proficient or higher in Coordinate Algebra and 41.4 percent of students were proficient in Analytic Geometry. The results were slightly higher than the district’s scores. APS reported a 20-percent proficiency for students in Analytic Geometry and a 24-percent proficiency for students in Coordinate Algebra. The low percentages reflect the poor test performance of students across the state, with only 34 percent of students in Coordinate Algebra and 33 percent of students in Analytic Geometry meeting state standards.

The Math Center hopes to improve students’ scores over the course of the next semester through diagnostic testing and target strategies.

As the program grows, Bedford hopes more students will become involved. The Math Center hopes to spread the word through flyers and announcements by teachers.

“We wanted to do some fundraisers to get additional software programs and food for the students who come,” Hollis said. “But we were also in a time crunch to try to open the Math Center as soon as possible.”

Future fundraisers are in the works to get more opportunities and programs available to students, including outside field trips and speakers.