ESPAÑOLA, NM—In the romantic comedy Mr. and Mrs. Smith, the main characters set off in the morning, as most married couples do, by saying goodbye to their spouse and wishing each other a good day. Then they go off to “special agent” jobs where each is out to get the other.
Española teachers Mr. and Mrs. Lara aren’t exactly like Mr. and Mrs. Smith—they’re not Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and they're not special agents—but they are trying to get their First In Math® Online Program teams to out-perform each other!
Norma Lara’s sixth-grade San Juan Elementary School team, “vivid44nm,” is #1 in New Mexico, while Jimmy’s fifth grade Velarde Elementary School team, “aloha91nm,” is currently ranked third in the state. You can guess the rest—both Mr. and Mrs. Lara have their sights set on Top Team In New Mexico honors by the end of the school year. “This is the hottest craze I’ve seen in the 26 years I’ve been in education,” says Mrs. Lara. “We only have three computers in my classroom, so my students devised a schedule giving each of them equal access in the morning, during recess and before catching the bus at the end of the day.”
Mr. Lara and his students also have reason to be confident; Velarde was awarded National Blue Ribbon School distinction in 2008. They aren’t giving away any secrets, simply stating, “First In Math is our Mathematics Stimulus Package.” Mrs. Lara’s good-natured comeback? “Well, my husband’s team is not catching us, but I will admit they are challenging us.”
Española has ten elementary and one middle school participating in the First In Math® Online Program through a grant from New Mexico State University. NMSU liaison and district math coordinator, Emmanuel Espinoza, introduced the program to Espanola students and teachers. “After we got our internet bandwidth problem straightened out, the program really took off,” says Espinoza. “Our schools are doing a great job. We have a lot of highly-ranked teams in the state, even though we started several months later than schools in other districts.” More than 1.8 million math problems have already been solved by Española students!