In the first three months of 2017, A Grade Ahead has continued to grow and celebrate milestones. On March 5th, we passed the six month anniversary of our transition from MathWizard to A Grade Ahead. It seems like just yesterday that we adopted our new name and purple and green colors!
In early April, our founders. Meenal and Parag Singhal, were featured on the cover of a local magazine. The story explains how A Grade Ahead (then known as MathWizard) began as a small operation at their kitchen table and has since evolved into 33 enrichment academies across the country, in addition to the Enrichment at Home program serving thousands of students.
Over the past three months, our staff has also been diligently working on some new improvements to our enrichment program that will be implemented in our 2017-2018 school year beginning in June. We can’t wait to roll out these new features and get feedback from our students and parents.
Here are some more details of the exciting things happening at A Grade Ahead:
Parag and Meenal Singhal Featured in Dublin Life Magazine
Meenal and Parag Singhal are honored to have their story shared in the April/May edition of Dublin Life magazine. The article explains how their love of education led them on a fun, fulfilling journey as the owners of an educational enrichment company.
We at A Grade Ahead are so excited to be featured in this publication and also very proud of how much A Grade Ahead (formerly known as MathWizard) has grown. The Singhals wish to thank their dedicated staff, as well as their franchisees across the country, for their talent and hard work. And most importantly, they would like to thank you, our customers, for your unwavering support through the years.
You can read the full article about our journey here.
Interactive Learning Added to Curriculum
In the fourth week of each regular month, A Grade Ahead’s curriculum will now include an interactive, hands-on activity for students to complete. This fun activity is in line with recent trends in education of making learning hands-on and interactive. Examples of hands-on activities include:
- 4th Grade English: Becoming realtors and writing listing descriptions using superlative and comparative adjectives
- 2nd Grade Math: Planning and budgeting a birthday party
- Algebra I: Exploring supply and demand using the formula for slope
Every grade from kindergarten through Algebra I and 7/8 English will have a hands-on activity. Each activity is designed to take approximately 20 minutes and correlates directly to the monthly curriculum lessons.
We at A Grade Ahead are committed to ensuring that all of our students have complete comprehension of each topic they are taught. We believe the inclusion of hands-on activities will enable an even higher level of understanding and mastery of the subject matter, as well as make the lessons lively and enjoyable.
Improved Numerical Paths (For Math Students)
One of the key elements of A Grade Ahead’s math enrichment program is numerical drills that students practice to master foundational concepts. Once students master a concept, they move on to the next challenging concept.
We have reviewed and updated the paths of our numerical drills to allow students to progress seamlessly according to their grade requirements. Each numerical level has also been renamed to better reflect the topic the student is mastering and to be easier for parents to understand. For instance,
- Fundamentals 1 is a level for kindergarteners who are working on the basics of addition: adding one to numbers through counting.
- Fractions 2 is a level for 5th graders who are working on adding and subtracting fractions.
Each student will be assessed and given an appropriate path that he or she will move through every week. Students advance on the numerical path according to a predetermined and grade-appropriate layout. If a student tests below average, a customized path will be used as necessary.
Parent Portal: New Technology to Track Progress
A Grade Ahead has created a new online resource for parents to allow them to administer our program more effectively. Instead of the current Results Recording Sheet (RRS), which is a document that enables parents to keep track of their student’s homework grades, the Parent Portal will be used to electronically record that data.
Once parents enter scores into the Parent Portal, a student’s scores can be tracked across months and years. This will enable parents to monitor the progress of their child over a period of time.
Parents can also request breaks through the Parent Portal and see their payment history. Each family will be provided with a log-in to access the Parent Portal. A Grade Ahead’s Enrichment at Home parents have been using this resource for several months and it will be rolled out to all academy families in June.
New Document Tracks Student Progress Monthly
In addition to the Parent Portal, A Grade Ahead has also created a new document to help parents track their student’s progress each month. On the 5th of each month, a Monthly Progress Report will be emailed home for easy perusal. This report will include data taken from the Parent Portal. To ensure that the data is available to include on the Monthly Progress Report, parents must input their student’s scores into the Parent Portal promptly at the end of each week.
Corporate Hosts Franchise Conference
For the second year, A Grade Ahead hosted our franchisees for two days of learning, sharing, and socializing. It is always nice to see our colleagues from near and far and discuss challenges and opportunities that we all face. This year, we got back to nature and hosted the meeting at a nature reserve in Columbus. Here is a photo of some of the attendees:
What do you think? Are you excited about any of the new upcoming changes at A Grade Ahead? Did you find the Singhal’s story interesting? Let us know in the comments.
Author: Amy Daniels, Marketing Manager, A Grade Ahead
