Feature Story: Ranney School's Math Team Outshines the Competition

It’s a simple equation. Inspired teachers = inspired learners. And if you talk to Ranney School Middle School math teacher Cathy Piccirillo, you’ll understand immediately why she is a perfect example of a teacher who inspires her students to reach their maximum potential.

From the moment she joined Ranney School nine years ago, Mrs. Piccirillo was determined to not only teach the fundamentals of math but to also teach her students that math is an essential building block rooted in everyday life and common experience.

Before joining Ranney, Mrs. Piccirillo, a veteran educator, taught math for 20 years at Lakewood Middle School. Since her arrival in 2001, she has made it her mission to motivate her students to think about math both in and out of the classroom and engage them in problem-solving techniques that will serve them well in their future endeavors.

Her philosophy is simple - to teach her students to understand and appreciate math, both as a discipline and how it relates to the world. “Math is an active process of discovery,” says Mrs. Piccirillo. “Rather than just telling students the answer up front, they discover a mathematical concept on their own, and this gives them the opportunity to be more engaged and interactive,” she adds. Using the discovery method as a strategic teaching and learning tool, she teaches her students to discover and become active learners and problem solvers. That ability, she maintains, is what mathematics is all about.

Like most math educators, Mrs. Piccirillo views the world by observing and analyzing events, experiences and facts within a mathematical context. She also believes that, in addition to regular classroom instruction in core subjects like algebra and geometry, student’s mathematical capabilities can be further enhanced by providing them with additional opportunities to expand their mathematical thought outside the classroom. Since her appointment at Ranney, she has successfully integrated classroom instruction with student participation in a wide variety of prestigious math competitions. By adding an additional ten math contests to the Ranney Math Team roster, students can showcase their mathematical prowess, as well as competitive spirit.

Mrs. Piccirillo attributes Ranney’s winning ways to the fact that students are exposed to math early on in their academic curriculum. “At Ranney, we begin algebra in the seventh grade, where most other schools typically offer it in the ninth grade. When they leave the Middle School, they are well-prepared to excel in their math courses in the Upper School.”

Members of Ranney’s Middle School Math Team are now familiar faces, as well as formidable foes, in 13 challenging and prestigious math competitions ranging from the New Jersey Math League Competition and nationwide American Mathematics Competition (AMC) to the annual statewide Brother Christian Jones Eighth Grade Mathematics Contest, also known as the CBA Math Competition.

In the past four years alone, Mrs. Piccirillo has led her Middle School team to victory in the CBA Competition where her students compete against 20 of the top private and parochial teams in the area. Ranney secured impressive first place awards in 2006 and 2008 and finished second in 2003, 2007 and 2009. In the 2008 competition, Ranney finished first for the entire private sector and also claimed first, second, and third place for individual winners. The Middle School Math Team is also a regular participant in the Continental Math Contest and Sigma Math Contest, both of which offer five national competitions annually.

Head of School Dr. Lawrence S. Sykoff believes much of the success of Ranney’s outstanding Math Team lies not only in its students’ exemplary academic skills but also to the distinguished faculty who have prepared them so well. “We are proud to have dedicated and accomplished faculty who are committed to preparing all our students to become critical thinkers and problem-solvers – essential tools necessary to successfully compete in the global workforce.”

“Whether the subject is physics, art, chemistry, or history,” declares Mrs. Piccirillo, “math is a tool used in every aspect of the educational process.” “Math isn’t just a subject confined to a classroom. It’s a tool for everything,” she adds.