Testimonials

... The greatest measure of the success of RSM’s programs – and its service to the Newton community – comes from the fact that I’ve got a kid who enthusiastically dives into his homework, who reminds me at breakfast on Tuesdays that “it’s RSM day”, and who positively beams on his way home with the joy of new discoveries and a love for learning.

- Nancy Andersen (Click Here to see the whole Letter)

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Dear Mrs. Katz,
I recently had an awards night at my school and received an award for top scorer (in my school) for the AMC 12. I realize that this is most probably all thanks to RSM and your class so I just wanted to say thank you so much for being the first really great math teacher I've had in a while. I truly learned an amazing amount in your class and clearly all of your efforts with me have payed off (at least somewhat, I'm still waiting for the SAT IIC results, but lets hope for an 800...no, a 900!!) 
Thank you so much, and I shall see you soon for summer classes.

- Karina Gaft, June 2009

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Dear Ms. Rifkin,
We are very happy to inform you that Juhi will be going to Harvard.  She worked hard to achieve this, and I am sure that part of her success is due to her attending RSM. Your teachers are extremely knowledgeable and dedicated professionals who helped her to improve.  I would like to thank Ms. Khavinson for being an excellent teacher to Juhi.  Thank you! 

- Kiran Kuchroo, May 2009

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Dear Ms.Rifkin,

I just wanted to drop a note to tell you what a wonderful experience my daughter is having at RSM. When she stared last fall I felt a bit guilty for signing her up for math class on Saturday afternoon, and even considered withdrawing her. My husband said he would have loved to have such an opportunity and convinced me to let her stay. My daughter tells us repeatedly how much she loves her class, so we know we made the right decision for her.

Today we got back her scores from the JHU-CTY SCAT test she recently took - her quantative (math) raw score was 47/50 or 99th percentile compare to grade 5 (she is in 3rd grade) and her scaled score was 473.

I'm so thankful that she has a place to flex her math muscles! She is looking forward to returning in the fall.

 Thanks again!

- B.R. May 2009

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Ms. Rifkin,

...My husband and I wanted to let you know how much we appreciated all the work and effort that you and your staff have put into my son. You may not have known this, but when he first started with RSM in his second grade, my son, while doing well in his school subjects, felt that he was not a good math student. We sent him to RSM primarily to build up his confidence in math. And now, if you saw him, no one would ever believe that he used to feel uncomfortable in his math class.

Not only did he score 790 on his SAT as an eighth grader, but he qualified for AIME and skipped a grade of math at Oak Hill Middle School. Now by attending Commonwealth, it is likely that he will take AP calculus in his sophomore year and will move on to theoretical calculus and linear algebra before he is done with high school.
But more important than advancing in math classes, my son truly enjoys math now.
Thank you again.

- Akiyo Fujii, April 2009

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Dear Ms. Rifkin,

...I wanted to write and thank you for all the years of math instruction Fred and Sophie have received at RSM. I am certain, Fred would not have been accepted at BUA with out the math training he received from RSM. Sophie has been doing exceptionally well in math at South. She is the freshman member of the A math team, which just made it to regionals, ranking 6th in the State. Once again, I know she would not be at or even near the level she is at in math without years of lessons at RSM. 

I signed both Sophie and Fred up for RSM because my weak math skills limited my choices in college and I didn't want to see it happen to them. Now I know it won't. We are very thankful to you for opening RSM and giving Sophie and Fred the opportunity to excel in math.
Regards,

- Lucia Dolan, April 2009

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Dear Inessa,

Here I am, enrolling for another year at RSM. Our family has grown and grown with you and everyone there. Olivia is now 12, and she was only 4 years old when she started.
I, again, say thank to you and your staff for the years of hard work and consideration you have all given our children. Sincerely,

- Mary Pfeiffer (mother of Bin, Camryn, Olivia and Rachel Pfeiffer - all RSM students) 
April 2009

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Dear Ms. Bulba,

Andy received his SAT math score of 740. Thank you for your help! We are very happy.

- Jane Lee (mother of Andy Yee) April 2009

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Dear Ms. Liya

I wanted to show you the "math" that Mark does at his school in 3rd grade!
We are incredibly lucky to have RSM to provide our children with interesting work. 
And Mark is loving learning challenging math with you. We appreciate so much everything that you do for your students. Thank you!
Sincerely,

- Natalie, April 2009

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Dear Mrs Rifkin, Olga and Milena,

Today Victor received his letter of acceptance to The Roxbury Latin School.
We wanted to thank you again for taking the time to write a letter of recommendation for him. You greatly contributed to his acceptance.
Thanks to RSM, Victor has been receiving the best possible math education and this has given him a strong motivation! He will of course stay with RSM.

Thank you again for providing our children with the highest quality education in math. Sincerely,

- Nathalie Defontnouvelle - March 2009

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Dear RSM,

I just want to thank you for the excellent teaching at RSM.
Recently, the teacher of [my son] Chris Overmeer informed me of the tutoring available on Friday from 4-8 and Chris attended this past week. He really enjoyed it, learned a lot, and WANTs to go back! This is a great accomplishment (although small steps in the big picture). Please inform the head of the school AND Chris' teacher and the tutor how pleased we are of your educational program, teacher expertise, and their vested interest in the students. It makes a big difference in children's education. Thanks again, 

- Lisa Intriere (mother of Chris Overmeer) - March 2009

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Dear Mrs. Khavinson and Mrs. Rifkin,  I have been admitted to Boston University, and would like to thank you for helping me achieve this accomplishment. Your math classes provided me with the necessary skills to become successful in math, both in school and on the SATS. I owe part of my success to you because had it not been for the Russian Math School, I might not have been where I am today. Thank you for helping me  achieve my goals! Sincerely,

- Igor Gorny - RSM graduate 2007

Dear Mrs. Rifkin and Mrs. Khavinson,
Thank you very much for teaching me and putting up with me for all these years. Its been a long, hard (and in some cases expensive) road, but the results are spectacular: 800 on both 1c and 2c. I could never have achieved such great success without your tremendous help and encouragement. Though that encouragement came in many different forms (some less friendly than others), it certainly helped get the job done. You both have had an enormous impact on my life, and for that I am eternally grateful. Now, not only do I have great scores to show colleges, but also the immense wisdom and knowledge I have gained throughout all my years at RSM. Though you will still have to deal with me directly or indirectly in camp and next year in calculus, just take this email as an early expression of thanks for all you have done for me. 'money well spent' is a huge understatement for my experiences at RSM. Once again, Thanks!

- Max Tabachnik - RSM graduate 2006

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Dear Mrs Rifkin and Mrs Khavinson,
Thank you for the hours and hours of homework, for the humiliating tests, for the long, long hours at rsm, for the extra work at camp, and for all the repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition! 
Thank you for the 800 on Math IIC!

- Love, Alex V. - RSM graduate 2006

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...I took the June SAT II Math Level 1 and 2 exams and got an 800 on both,due in large part to your school. Your 2C course provided ample preparation for the exam and supplemented my high school math course well. Thank you.

- Anthony Vashevko - RSM graduate 2006

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Hi Mrs. Rifkin,
I have already spoken with you on the phone but here are my SAT scores:
SAT Math - 800, SAT 2c - 790. I have also told you I'm on my way to Dartmouth College... who would've thunk? A guy like me who ran around the parking lot waving his diapers around is going to an Ivy league school... maybe it was because I was running around without diapers that got me in (because I got recruited there for Track and Field). Either way, it's very expensive and all, so i'll have to find a job there to try and help out.
I owe a lot of this to you because you're the one who whipped me into shape for math so when it came to schoolwork, I barely did any and still got A's.
Thank you very much for being my math teacher and life mentor by giving me some life lessons that I will use throughout my life. Again, thank you very much. Sincerely,

- Dan Ostrovsky - RSM graduate 2006

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Hello Mrs. Rifkin,

I would like to thank you for all that you've done for me over
the last 10 years. All the skills I have learned at RSM and at camp have
come in handy here and have already given me an edge on my peers, both
academically (in math class) as well as socially.

Sincerely
- Misha Serebrennikov

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Dear Ms. Liya,
Last night I asked Ava what she wants to be when she grows up and she  said, "A Russian Math School Teacher."  Thought you would like toknow  that.  She seems to be enjoying the class, and I am not getting ANY  resistance from her.  She likes doing the HW earlier than later too!

- Sara Wadia-Fascetti

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Dear Ms. Rifkin,
We would like to thank you for everything that RSM does for building the character of our children, helping them to grow, providing them with a sense of community. During last years, while attending RSM, Alex has not only strengthened his academics, but also matured a lot as a person. Thank you very much for creating and leading the RSM. Sincerely,

- Victor and Olga Geyyer

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'...The Russian School of Mathematics is a bright light of excellence, rigor and superlative teaching in Boston's education-rich environment. My two girls have been enrolled in the School since K and 1st grades and have excellent mathematical thinking and knowledge as a result, as measured by their performance in public school and on standardized tests. I am so very thankful to the RSM leaders and faculty for the superb mathematics education and joyful learning environment my girls have enjoyed. My girls love the school and are energized and self-actualized by their experience...'

- Western suburban Family
Mom is a PhD MBA Biotechnology Entrepreneur
Dad is a Professor

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'...Through sitting in on class time during Parent Time, I have come to appreciate the deep pedagogical foundation of RSM. It is clear that RSM's environment is the result of careful development and decades of experience from bright committed well trained people, who love both math and teaching children. The school is unique (for example, they introduce algebra in first grade motivated by weights and a scale and continue building through the years) and is a committed jewel in our family's busy lives.'

- H.W.

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'...RSM teaches our children to see math, to enjoy learning and to believe in themselves. Being successful at RSM requires hard work and dedication from both children and parents. Significant homework is expected and today's children have to get accustomed to a focused disciplined classroom where fun is encouraged but acting up is not tolerated. Education is a paramount value for our family. I attribute most of my girls' mathematics prowess to RSM and I am grateful for their caring and passionate teaching of our children.'

- Western suburban Family

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'...My son is in RSM since grade 5. Now he is a Junior in Newton North High School. He is oficially graduated from the RSM last year, but still takes AP Math course at RSM. There are two aspects in my family relationships with RSM - math and social. Math-wise my son got an invaluable background - he got the score 750 in SAT II 2C last year. Socially, RSM was a 'second home' for my son for 7 years. Every significant event in his life was surrounded by his RSM friends: they camp together, ski together, perform on stage together, travel together, celebrated each other birthdates, bar and bat mitzvas, etc. My daughter is 8. She is in the second grade now and we are looking forward to start next year at RSM! 
Thank you!'

-  Boris F.

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' Dear Mrs Katz, Thank you very much for teaching my son Ivan Atochin for Math SAT II. He did a good job and passed SAT II 2c for 800! Many-many thanks for other teachers of RMS: Mrs Kozlova for spring break teaching; Mrs Rivkin for teaching SAT II 1c (Ivan got 800 last year), and Mrs Khavinson for helpful assistance and warm atmosphere in the school.'

- Olga Atochina, MD, PhD
Harvard School of Public Health

Recent Post on RSM Forum

Posted: Sat, Mar 21st 2009 at 10:31 am  

I'd just like to say how much I support RSM's approach to teaching mathematics. In the mid sixties I went to a school in the UK whose teachers wrote their own maths textbooks. Only in much later life did I discover, by finding some of the school texts written by I. M. Gelfand, that their approach was exactly the same as his. Even today, nearly forty years on, whenever I look for textbooks I always look for Russian authors first and I've never yet had one that wasn't clearer and cheaper than comparable UK or US texts.
I live in a small village in Wales in the UK. Our pub is run by a Russian woman who came to the UK shortly after WW2. A few years ago, after much arguing with our Immigration Service, she obtained residence permits for her nearest living relatives. They are a family of five, two parents, two sons and a daughter, all Russian who had found themselves stuck in Kyrgizstan when the USSR broke up. They had all  been taught mathematics by the Russian method in Kyrgizstan.
When the younger son went to our local school he found himself *three years ahead* of his age-peers in maths. I wasn't at all surprised and I'm convinced that this is entirely due to the superiority of the Russian Method.
Please continue with your work and, if you can, spread some of it back over the pond to the UK because maths teaching in our schools is in a pitiful state.
Best wishes,

Olwen Morgan, Wales UK

Lessons From the Russian School of Mathematics

By Melanie Smollin, Education Editor, Takepart.com

I recently spent a long weekend in Mass visiting a couple of friends and their two children.  Their 6 year old son is gifted (is it OK to say gifted? Not p.c.? What’s a good word for a first grader who’s enjoyed reading chapter books to himself for years and loves to add sets of three-digit numbers in his head for fun?)  Anyhow, his parents are concerned that he isn’t receiving enough stimulation in his public school classroom, and are considering extra programs to enrich his learning.  His father mentioned that an after-school program called the Russian School of Mathematics seems to be all the rage, and I made a mental note to myself to check it out. 
It so happens that the Boston Globe just featured an article about said school which appears to have a lot of lessons to teach about math education – and I don’t just mean to its students.  
First, the skinny on the school:  The school began 12 years ago when founder Inessa Rifkin decided to start her own math class for her son and his teenage friends who were underachieving.  The school has since grown to include 1,800 K-12 students at its location in Newton, Mass, as well as branches in two other cities in Mass, one in San Jose, Calif., and a summer camp in New Hampshire. Up until 7th grade, kids take classes for 2 hours per week and do an hour of homework  Older kids do double the work.
I’ve said before that the key to reform in education is where the rubber meets the road: the interface between teachers and students.  What impresses me most about the school is its approach to curriculum and pedagogy.  Teachers assess each student’s level, and then assign problems that build upon previously learned material and become progressively more complex.  So children can’t move forward until they’ve mastered earlier material, and there are no gaps in their learning.  In addition, knowledge is not delivered to students via lessons from teachers but constructed by students themselves who spend class time puzzling through problems while teachers circulate among them to monitor progress and help them through rough patches without feeding them answers.  Memorization of formulas is discouraged - when children learn something, they truly understand it.  As far as curriculum goes, depth is the name of the game – not breadth.  Students focus on 4-5 topics per year with a strong emphasis on algebra and geometry.  
I’m not surprised that the school successfully teaches basic algebra concepts to children as young as 5 years old – not all of whom are as gifted (?) as my friend’s son – and that Rifkin insists that all children can learn to do math well. I think this building-block approach to learning that lets children build progressively on what they already know, challenges them to construct knowledge, and encourages them to think for themselves, is the key to educating all children well. Further, I wish this depth vs. breadth approach could be incorporated into President Obama’s call for national standards and better assessments.  Why is American curriculum, as Rifkin says, “a mile wide and one inch deep”?  What if assessments could measure deeper learning of fewer concepts?  Wouldn’t our kids be better off? 

- Melanie Smollin
Originally posted on Takepart.com

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