AlgebraLAB

About AlgebraLAB - The story behind the site, and the people who built and continue to support it.

Project History

Thank you for visiting AlgebraLAB. Integrated-Access STEM Sites is very proud to host this curricular content and will continue to develop additional resources during coming years.

This project was developed during the years 2003–2005 in conjunction with a Florida Department of Education Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT) Competitive Grant, a National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Edward G. Begle Grant for classroom-based research in precollege mathematics, and Volusia County Schools.

Enhancing Education Through Technology (EETT)

The national EETT grant program was started in 2002 but was later phased out by the federal government in 2011. At the time, it was a cornerstone federal initiative (Title II, Part D of the No Child Left Behind act) aimed at closing the digital divide and integrating 21st-century technology into classrooms. Over its lifespan, the EETT grant program allocated tens of millions of dollars to Florida’s public schools.

Volusia County received two of these EETT grants: one in the 2003–2004 school year entitled AlgebraLAB, and then again in the 2004–2005 school year entitled LearningXchange. The project director for both grants was Catharine H. Colwell.

Courtesy of a Google Search, 29 June 2026, “2003 Enhancing Education Through Technology grants in Florida,” generative AI Overview

Because EETT combined formula entitlements with a competitive application pool, Volusia County’s AlgebraLAB and PhysicsLAB initiatives were structured as multi-year deliverables covering consecutive 2002–2003 and 2003–2004 state allocation calendars, allowing the district to leverage its baseline formula requirements across continuous, multi-district competitive cycles. The AlgebraLAB project made Volusia County a premier state awardee for the competitive EETT project track during the 2002–2003 and 2003–2004 cycles.

The EETT funding directly impacted classrooms, building and supporting online interactive learning databases — such as AlgebraLAB: A Math-Science Connection and PhysicsLAB — that re-engineered how math and science modules were digitally delivered to secondary students across the district. Volusia County was legally required to allocate a minimum of 25 percent of its formula-driven technology grant directly to ongoing, high-quality professional development, training teachers to integrate advanced classroom hardware and digital software into everyday core academic curricula.

Two targeted uses of the 2003 award allowed Volusia County Schools to deploy specialized assets that standard formula grants could not cover:

  • It re-engineered curriculum, rather than funding standard infrastructure upkeep, allowing the money to fund programmers, project managers, and content creators at Mainland High School to design digital learning ecosystems.
  • Its resource distribution financed cross-curriculum alignment, yielding over 850 lesson plans, practice pages, hands-on learning activities, reading scenarios, science graphs, study aids, real-world career profiles, and occupational skill matrices — accessible to all high schools across Volusia County, and via the internet, across the world.

The grant’s goals included improving student academic achievement, providing equitable access to technology, and offering professional development for teachers.

LearningXchange

During the second grant year, 2004–2005, intensive focus was placed on the programming for LearningXchange, a foundational web platform and custom management system built to power Volusia County’s EETT competitive grant projects (AlgebraLAB and PhysicsLAB). Developed locally at Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, by principal application programmer Jeremy Blawn, it served as a model for data-driven, technology-infused instruction during the mid-2000s No Child Left Behind era.

Courtesy of a Google Search, 29 June 2026, “2003 Enhancing Education Through Technology grants in Florida,” generative AI Overview

Three of its core functions were:

  • Standard-Aligned Lesson Planning— an early leader in curriculum-mapping software, letting teachers explicitly link Florida Sunshine State Standards to any classroom assignment and automatically generate compliant, tech-integrated lesson plans.
  • Data-Driven Think Tanks— between 2005 and 2012, Volusia County Schools used the platform to host “AlgebraLAB Think Tanks,” targeted workshops that gathered in-service teachers to track student performance data and refine digital lessons based on real-time classroom analytics.
  • STEM Content Delivery— the underlying secure portal hosting the district’s repository of physics, math, and chemistry modules, letting students access interactive problem sets while mapping their scores back to teachers’ gradebooks.

The websites of AlgebraLAB and PhysicsLAB are currently sponsored by Integrated-Access STEM Sites, LLC. Content for both sites is still being created and posted. LearningXchange, however, was dismantled as the district implemented a different platform using the Canvas Learning Management System.

Project Team

AlgebraLAB was originally conceived as a math curriculum designed to reinforce the topics and skills needed by students enrolled in physical science courses to be successful. Content addressing almost 40 topics in Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Calculus, and Reading, with over 185 skills, was developed over the course of the project.

This development of integrated math and physical science courses — spanning Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, Statistics, Trigonometry, Calculus, Reading, Physics, and Chemistry — enabled students to see the practical applications of their mathematics skills and to understand the importance of math in reaching accurate, data-driven scientific conclusions. The online environment was critical because it allowed students access to content both at school and at home, providing immediate diagnostic assessment to the teacher and feedback to students that reinforced understanding of content or provided just-in-time remediation of the math skills that might have been hindering a student’s learning in science.

The original XML digital format used in AlgebraLAB’s development allowed teachers to organize not only their documents, but the data contained within them — questions, answers, topics, skills, standards, diagrams, and lectures. Students who answered a question incorrectly, or realized they needed a refresher on a prior topic, could in real time initiate queries to find explanations and additional practice problems to re-teach the desired skills.

Throughout the curriculum project, participating math, science, and reading teachers incorporated online curricular materials into their lessons, implemented new technology-based teaching strategies, and built active-learning environments that let them facilitate student learning.

Business Advisors

  • Bob Coleman — Florida Power & Light Co.
  • Kathy Fletcher — Sylvan Learning Center
  • Jan Bouc — WestEd: Strategic Literacy Initiative, Reading Apprenticeship
  • Charles Eastlake — Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, College of Engineering
  • Bruce Furino — University of Central Florida, College of Engineering and Computer Science, Office of Special Programs
  • Alison I. Morrison-Shetlar — University of Central Florida, Professor of Biology
  • Marshall Ransom, Donna Saye & Sharon Taylor — Georgia Southern University, Department of Mathematics
  • Judson Stryker — Stetson University, Accounting Department

Volusia County Schools

  • Margaret Bambrick — Math Specialist
  • Mary Bruno — Director of Community, Careers, and Technical Information
  • Gordon Butler — Student Accountability Office
  • Allene DuPont — Coordinator of High School Services
  • Vicki Drager — Director, Staff Development
  • Richard Jones — Grants Specialist
  • Nicki Junkins — Director of K-12 Curriculum and Program Accountability
  • Steve Marple — Management Information Services
  • Teresa Northrup — Science Specialist
  • Keith Parsons — Management Information Services
  • Ken Richmond — Management Information Services
  • Bill Steele — Management Information Services
  • Bill Tindall — Director of Management Information Services
  • Lynn Willis — Management Information Services
  • Dan Woodward — Management Information Services

Mainland High School Personnel

  • Patricia Graham — Principal, Mainland High School
  • Cheryl Salerno — Assistant Principal for Curriculum and Instruction
  • Cathy Colwell — Project Manager and Content Programmer, Physics Teacher
  • Jeremy Blawn — Application Programmer and Network Administrator
  • Scott Bay — Mathematics Teacher
  • Melissa Carr — Reading Specialist
  • Cindy Chesley-Adams — Mathematics Teacher
  • Jennifer Clayton — Biology Teacher
  • Tammy Crow — Reading Teacher
  • Kim Dodd — Mathematics Teacher
  • Ella Godbee — Reading Teacher
  • Carolyn Gulliksen — Mathematics Teacher
  • Katherine Mathis — Mathematics Teacher
  • Glenna Redden — Mathematics Teacher
  • Erica Saylor — Chemistry Teacher
  • Cindy St. Pierre — Reading Teacher
  • Mark Acton — Applications Programmer
  • Todd Hales — Research Assistant
  • Brittany Horn — Research Assistant and Content Programmer

Student Assistants

Class of 2007

  • Kevin Holland

Class of 2006

  • Michael Bolding

Class of 2005

  • Kyle Fischer
  • Ryan Hales
  • Brandi Horn
  • Emily Jones
  • Tim Rades
  • Behzad Richey
  • Carly Roach
  • John Tinstman

Class of 2004

  • Lars Baunling
  • Larry Camarato
  • Nalleli DeJesus
  • Matt Dionne
  • Jarred Epstein
  • Krysten Hencken
  • James Holland
  • Amanda Johnston
  • Sean McQuade
  • Steven Newcomb
  • Phil Panteloukas
  • Corey Sawchuk
  • Owen Spaur
  • JC Wiggins
  • John Wilkins

Class of 2003

  • Jamie Burch
  • Marshall Razza

Class of 2001

  • Justin Anderson