Mathematics Courses/Tutoring

Project Success Mathematics Course (Success 99)

Many Project Success students are required to take at least one remedial mathematics course. Years ago, it became apparent that these remedial courses were challenging for many of our students. Therefore, we offer a preparatory mathematics course focused on building study strategies and confidence (Success 99). The goal of this course is to provide students with additional skills and strategies to enhance their chances for success in the remedial mathematics coursework and create a foundation for future credit-bearing mathematics coursework.

Project Success – Mission

• Providing high-quality instruction through organizational tutoring to enable them to become academically independent.
• Providing students with a venue to voice their concerns and limitations, and teach them strategies they can employ to reduce the impact of their disabilities in their college and post-college lives.
• Provide students with resources to better understand their rights and responsibilities related to their accommodations and education.

History

Project Success, founded by Dr. Robert T. Nash, began serving students in 1979. The program grew rapidly from serving six students in 1979 to 150 students in 1985. The program now serves approximately 300 students. Over the years the program has been in existence, hundreds of Project Success students have graduated from UWO.

Professor Robert T. Nash founded Project Success in 1979.  His motivations for this came from his own experiences as a  person with dyslexia. Dr. Nash had a difficult time throughout most of his kindergarten to high school experience in his hometown of Seattle, Washington, and barely graduated from high school.  His teachers there never expected him to go on to college, let alone succeed there. But, through sheer determination and hard work, he earned a bachelors degree at the University of Seattle, a masters at the University of Wyoming and a doctorate in special education from Utah State University. (To earn his doctorate, he rewrote his dissertation 37 times!)  He was hired at UW Oshkosh in 1973 on a one-year contract, but through hard work and determination, he was offered a tenure track position and later became a full professor in the special education department.  While attending a meeting of the Upper Midwest Branch meeting of the Orton Dyslexia Society (now known as the International Dyslexia Association) he learned that he was dyslexic and that the problems he faced in his schooling were attributable to his poor reading and spelling skills which were the result of his dyslexia.  

Upon receiving his tenure at UWO in 1978, he asked the chancellor of the university for a small grant of $3000 to start a remedial/assistance program for college–aged students with dyslexia.  His goal for these students was not merely to provide accommodations, but more importantly to help them become academically independent by using strategies to improve their reading and spelling levels.  The program started with six students in fall of 1979, but it grew to 100 students by the fall of 1984, and it has continued to grow over the years.

Dr. Nash remained director of the program until 1999 when he left the university to work for the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction training teachers across the state in his multisensory methodology. Later he taught at a correctional facility in Red Granite, Wisconsin.  Although the program now provides a wider array of academic support, the goal of helping students improve their reading, writing, mathematics and study skills to the point where they can become academically independent remains unchanged.

Philosophy

Project Success is one of only a handful of schools nationwide that is a remedial program rather than a tutorial assistance program. Most colleges and universities that offer programs for students with learning disabilities are based on the tutorial model. What’s the major difference between these models and how does it affect my choice of programs for myself or my son or daughter?

A tutorial assistance program offers services that help a student compensate for his or her dyslexia. For example, typical services offered by this type of program include books on tape, readers for assignments and tests, note takers, and tutors to explain content. The goal of the tutorial assistance program is to provide the necessary aids to help the student succeed.

In contrast to a tutorial program, Project Success is a remedial program. The goal of a remedial program is to assist the student to develop the necessary language skills to read, write, and spell effectively and efficiently to the point that the student becomes academically independent. Our program does not have a library of books on tape. Instead, the goal of our course instruction and tutoring assistance is to teach students how to use the sound structure of the American English language to become language independent. Therefore, when one of our tutors helps a student with a course, in addition to teaching course content, the goal of instruction is also to help the student learn how to read the book and apply study skills which will allow him or her to become academically independent.

A logical question is how long does the process of becoming academically independent take? Our goal is that the process occurs within two to seven semesters after entry into the program. This is a large time variation, but some students, because of their level of disability upon entering the program, take longer. The point is; however, that with good instruction and persistence, students can be taught to become academically independent. Our summer transition program is the first step on the road to language independence.