Gilbert Public Schools rolls out new K'12 math curriculum; district reports midyear gains in diagnostic growth

Gilbert Public Schools officials reported progress and early student gains from a phased, districtwide adoption of new math instructional materials during the district's Jan. 21 academic spotlight.

The district has implemented I-Ready for most K'6 elementary classrooms and junior high grades and has adopted Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Into AGA resources for algebra courses at the secondary level, presenters said. The rollout used a four-wave approach for elementary training; as of December staff reported 83% of elementary teachers trained and 13 elementary campuses fully implementing I-Ready.

Why it matters: curriculum adoptions and their classroom implementation affect instruction, assessments and professional development for thousands of students; early diagnostic data are used to guide intervention and enrichment.

What the district reported: coordinators Lanae Baum (elementary) and Crystal Udall (elementary math coordinator) told the board the district had assessed roughly 16,000 students on the I-Ready diagnostic and that the district median progress-to-typical-growth measure at midyear was 55% (the company's nationally normed median is 50%).…