District 70 adopts Ready Math for K–5 after 18-week teacher pilot

Pueblo County School District 70 voted to adopt Ready Math for kindergarten through fifth grade after the district’s elementary teachers piloted two math programs over 18 weeks and recommended Ready Math by roughly 70%–30%.

Holly Corsantino, presenting the staff recommendation, said all elementary teachers piloted both Ready Math and an alternative (Desmos Math) for nine weeks each and that 28 of 31 pilot teachers who were present voted in favor of Ready Math at a conclusion meeting. Corsantino told trustees the program was praised by students for being easy to understand, colorful and relevant, and by teachers for its structured lessons, data tools and small-group supports. She also said Ready Math aligns with the district’s interim assessments and feeds into sixth through eighth-grade testing.

Board members asked how much evidence exists that Ready Math improves achievement. Corsantino acknowledged the pilot period was too short to produce robust test-score comparisons and said the district had only preliminary benchmarking information; she noted Douglas County — a Colorado district that uses Ready Math — reports positive results, but emphasized differences between districts make direct comparisons imperfect. Board members also discussed teacher buy-in: Corsantino said including representatives from all 11 elementary schools in the pilot and final vote helped secure broad staff support.

At the meeting the board voted to adopt the curriculum (motion carried; Ann Bennett recorded a no vote because she said she had not reviewed the materials). Administrators said next steps will include training and implementation planning with schools.