BatterUp! Third-graders from Phoenix’s Benchmark School Plan to Swing for the Fences at the National Math Bee this May!Students Sweep First, Second and Third Playing Baseball-themed Internet Math Game during State Competition;  One of many great stories being told through Arizona Public Schools Making a Difference Every Day Campaign

PHOENIX – April 11, 2008 – Cassandra Turner coaches a powerhouse youth team that is tearing up the diamond.  Her players have dominated both local and state competition – now they are setting their sites on winning a national trophy!

Turner isn’t leading a local youth baseball or softball powerhouse.  Instead, her diamond phenoms from Phoenix’s Benchmark School have dominated the Grand Canyon state in the baseball-themed Internet math game BatterUp!, sweeping the top three places among third-grade teams during state competition.

Now her three teams consisting of 15 third graders are hoping to parlay their prowess at the baseball-themed math game into some major success at the National Math Bee on May 2 in Birmingham, Ala.

Turner is in her second year of coaching the third-grade math teams at Benchmark.  She says the competition really unites her students around a common goal.  The teams meet each Thursday to work on memorizing the basics in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

When it’s time to “play ball,” the students compete in teams of five players each, working to achieve the highest “batting average” they can possibly achieve.

“It’s really a team effort,” Turner said.  “You can’t compete as an individual.”

What individuals can do while playing BatterUp! is improve their individual math skills.

“The math scores have really improved since we first started,” Turner said.  “We had some students who started the year with a .100 batting average that worked hard and now have a batting average around .600.”

Turner says while her students seem to enjoy subtraction the most, Benchmark has the best opportunity for national success in the multiplication category.

Now in its fifth year, thousands of students in 37 states participate in the National Math Bee Tournament at the school-wide, district, state and national levels.  The Championship event is held each year at the McWane Center, a three-story interactive science museum in Birmingham.