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%). Presenters said the district saw a 5-percentage-point increase in students at on-grade level and a 10-point increase in students at mid-to-above-year-level between the first and second diagnostics; they described those shifts as a reduction in the "below grade" categories.

Baum and Udall emphasized the phased rollout: a pilot wave, a broader July training, a December training and a final wave in April'May aimed at remaining teachers. Board members asked several implementation questions, including how the company's national norms are produced, which students and courses were included in the diagnostic sample, and how the district's separate benchmark assessments (the district's AASA mimic) align with the vendor diagnostics.

Using the online personalized component, MyPath (I-Ready's personalized instruction), the district reported students were, on average, achieving the company's recommended engagement levels: the districtwide distribution for weekly minutes showed a plurality of students in the recommended 30'49 minutes a week window, and teachers reported students were passing a high percentage of lessons attempted. Presenters noted variability in weekly "time-on-task" is influenced by student schedules, grade-level differences and how schools schedule pull-out supports for tiered interventions.

Secondary implementation: for algebra 1, geometry and algebra 2, the district adopted HMH Into AGA and trained secondary teachers for implementation in 2024'25. Presenters said the Into AGA growth measure showed 68% of tested students at or above grade level at midyear and an 18.2-point increase in students categorized as "above grade level" from the beginning to the middle of the year. District staff reported teacher and student platform logins consistent with active use; teacher observations counted usage in many classrooms.

Board questions and cautions: several trustees asked about students and teachers who had not yet been onboarded (roughly one remaining wave of teachers and about 4,000 students who had not yet been on the program at the time of the midyear diagnostic), whether the vendor diagnostics can be compared across cohorts and what supports the district will provide to teachers who are trained late in the adoption cycle. Staff outlined principal and instructional coach supports, additional summer refreshers and follow-up trainings to reinforce implementation fidelity.

What was not reported: presenters noted that some district benchmark data and some students (for example, 8th graders enrolled in high-school-level courses) are reported on different platforms, and therefore cross-platform comparisons require careful alignment; staff said district benchmark assessments (AASA mimic) continue to be administered three times a year and will provide another view of student progress.

Next steps: staff said they will continue phased training for the remaining teachers, provide ongoing leadership and coach support, monitor MyPath usage and report year-end diagnostics and district benchmark results later in the spring. Trustees requested follow-up reporting on the end-of-year diagnostics and a future deeper dive on how traditionally scheduled students (those on alternative math platforms) compare on district-wide benchmarks.

Sources: Teaching and learning academic spotlight presented by Jared Ryan, Lanae Baum and Crystal Udall at the Jan. 21, 2025 Governing Board meeting; board member questions and staff responses recorded in the meeting transcript.