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TAYLORSVILLE, Utah (AP) -- A Taylorsville elementary teacher received a pat on the back from the federal government.
Yesterday, Plymouth Elementary School math teacher Jerry Mangus accepted the U-S Department of Education's No Child Left Behind 2005 American Stars of Teaching award. The award goes to 51 educators nationwide whose unique teaching methods lead to students' improved test scores.
For Mangus, success was evident when he started teaching math on computers nearly a decade ago. His fifth-grade students' test scores were 20 percent higher than their peers statewide after using the computer math program.
Mangus says computer math allows students to do an unlimited number of problems and they know immediately if they are doing them right. Those who understand concepts quickly move on and those who don't, get individual help.
The award is intended to demonstrate that President Bush's N-C-L-B reforms are working. However, Mangus says when he started his program, N-C-L-B hadn't been written yet.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
