Mathematics – �鶹��Ƶ

Analysis of Wisconsin’s Accountability Report Cards

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:40:09 +0000

The accountability report card used by Wisconsin DPI ensures that children from disadvantaged backgrounds still recieve the same opprotunities and extra assistance that they require to gain the same education that nondisadvantaged groups recieve. Basically make school equitable. UniverCity Year Contact Info Gavin Luter Managing Director gavin@cows.org 608-261-1141 [...]

Statstical analysis of Wisconsin Forward ExamEnglish and Language Arts scores

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:40:01 +0000

The Wisconsin Forward Exam is a standardized test that is designed to calculate the expected proficiency of students in various topics from grades 3-8. This report analyzes the results of the English and Language Arts (ELA) portion of the exam for the Durand-Arkansaw School District.There are 2 goals of this report.
•Goal 1 – To use the Forward Exam data to create a focus group of students with the mostpotential to move from the Basic category to the Proficient category.
•Goal 2 – To use Forward Exam data to determine which of the Tested Topics the studentsperformed the best on at each grade level and which Tested Topics the students performedthe worst on.

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Sunduz Keles
keles@stat.wisc.edu

Statstical analysis of Wisconsin Forward Exam math scores

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:40:01 +0000

In 2015, Wisconsin implemented the Forward Exam to students in elementary, middle, and high school in grades 3 to 8 and 10 in English, mathematics, science, and social studies to assess whether students across the state are achieving proficiency in specific school subjects as outlined in the Wisconsin Academic Standards rubric. Due to the recency of this implementation, there is a dearth of research into whether or not these standards are being met, and whether students across demographics are achieving a similar level of proficiency in subjects.

The purpose of this study, conducted in conjunction with and with assistance from Gretchen Cipirano and Gavin Luter, is to, in at least one school district, identify the students which could potentially most benefit from additional direct educational intervention to help them achieve a higher level of mathematics
proficiency in way that could significantly improve the ranking of the district, and to study various factors that may correlate with a student’s performance on the math portion of the Forward Exam (e.g. gender, race, disability status, and level of English proficiency).

UniverCity Year Contact Info
Gavin Luter
Managing Director
gavin@cows.org
608-261-1141

University Faculty Contact
Sunduz Keles
keles@stat.wisc.edu

Texas Tech Mathematicians Use Time Scale Approach To Cancer Treatment

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:39:08 +0000

Texas Tech University mathematicians Casey Mills, a doctoral candidate, and associate professor of mathematics, Raegan Higgins, are using a mathematical approach to modeling the treatment of prostate cancer. After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, patients typically undergo intermittent androgen deprivation therapy prior to starting radiation or when surgery or radiation are not an option. Mills says that these patients undergo cancer treatment for a few months, then go without treatment for a few months.

“They alternate between periods of on-treatment and off-treatment, and those periods last several months,” Mills said. “We’ve created a new approach using something called time scales, which are able to combine discrete and continuous time very well.” A discrete variable is countable in a finite amount of time, but a continuous variable will continue on forever. “Most clinical models currently use strictly continuous time frames”, Mills said. Because of the change between on-and-off-treatment intervals, she and her advisor wanted to see if it was possible to combine the continuous and discrete to create a new model.

“What we’re doing introduces the fact that you can model both the continuous time and discrete time. We want to more realistically reflect the break of switching from on-treatment to off-treatment to on-treatment to off-treatment, without just assuming that it’s always continuous time,” Higgins said. “The benefit of this intermittent therapy is it gives patients a better quality of life. They’re not getting so much treatment at once. The doctors can see if the treatment is working and adjust accordingly.”

In using data from six patients whose treatment intervals best fit their mathematical formulas, the Texas Tech mathematicians said they accomplished their goal of building a solid foundational model. “Right now, we have a very, very novel model, and it will require more building and collaboration with biologists to increase its chances of being used in a clinical setting”, Mills said.

Predictors of Sidewalk Conditions in the City of Salinas

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:37:50 +0000

The primary objective of the data analysis was to identify statistically signicant predictors of the sidewalk conditions evaluated by the City of Salinas. In summary, we found that income and education are statistically signicant predictors. Because it was an observational study not an experimental study, the students and the instructor agreed that the data could not verify any causal relationship against social justice. The data suggest, however, the sidewalk condition tends to be worse in lower income areas.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

Sustainable City Years Program Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Steven Kim
Mathematics and Statistics
Assistant Professor, Department of Math and Statistics
stkim@csumb.edu

Local Government / Community Contact
James Serrano

Modeling Impacts of Mining on Groundwater

Victor Manzanilla — Wed, 01 Nov 2023 03:37:14 +0000

The Center for Applied Mathematics supports and funds summer student research that applies mathematics to real-world problems. The Freshwater Society would like to examine the potential effects of mining in the UMore development on groundwater in Dakota County. Student researchers will investigate the question: How will the removal of sand and gravel impact water reaching the Vermillion River, specifically stretches where trout depend on cold-water discharge from groundwater to thrive? Student researchers will create a simulation tool based on the finite difference method to model changes to groundwater temperature and the driving forces that affect its flow from the mined area to the Vermillion River. Findings will inform the Freshwater Society’s water policy efforts.

Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner.

Sustainable Communities Partnership Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Magdalena Stolarska
Mathematics

mastolarska@stthomas.edu
6519625559

Local Government / Community Contact