Putnam Academy of Arts and Sciences is a public charter school located in a small town in Florida and serves approximately 200 students in Grades 6 through 8. Approximately 64% of enrolled students identify as a person of color, and 100% are economically disadvantaged. The school was founded in 2012 to address a need in the community for an academic setting that ensured students were prepared for high school. Recent reconfigurations in the local school district led to shifts in the student population at Putnam Academy, with an influx of students who were struggling academically, many of whom were performing at the lowest level on the Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST).
Putnam Academy began using Math 180® during the 2022–2023 school year to address the high influx of students struggling in math. To assess the school’s progress during its first year of Math 180 implementation this evaluation sought to answer the following two research questions:
- To what extent did students’ mathematics course grades and achievement test scores improve after participating in Math 180?
- How did students’ course grade gains in 2022–2023 compare to their prior year course grade gains?
Math 180 is a program designed to assist students who are struggling with math as an intervention class that is taken in addition to students’ core mathematics instruction. Whole-class instruction occurs during the first five minutes and is followed by two rotations. During one rotation, students receive computer adaptive instruction and practice, and during the other rotation students participate in teacher-led small-group instruction. Class size is limited to 20 students, and student progress is monitored and assessed through software elements, mSkills tests that measure mastery of key concepts, and the HMH Growth Measure®.
Putnam Academy serves approximately 200 students in Grades 6‑8. Table 1 presents the demographic characteristics of all 71 students enrolled in Math 180 for whom course grades and assessment data are available—the analytic sample for this report.
Math Course Grades
Putnam Academy provided mathematics fall and spring course grades for all students for the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 school years. Course grades are based on students’ class performance and are reported as a percentage.
Math Growth Measure
HMH’s Math Growth Measure is a research-based interim assessment designed to inform instruction by providing information on math performance and grade level growth expectations. The assessment uses a research-based scaled score that ranges from 1 to 99 and five performance levels (far below level, below level, approaching, on-level, above level). Putnam Academy administered the Math Growth Measure to Math 180 students in fall, winter, and spring of the 2022–2023 school year.
Florida Assessment of Student Thinking (FAST)
The FAST assessment is a computer adaptive test that is aligned to the Florida Benchmark for Excellent Student Thinking (B.E.S.T.) content standards and is used to provide feedback on student progress. The math assessment is administered to students in Grades 3-8 three times per year—in fall, winter, and spring. Results are reported in scale scores, which fall on a vertical scale ranging from 240 to 400 and increase across grade levels, a performance level (Level 1 through Level 5), and a percentile rank.
Paired t-tests were used to evaluate the extent to which students’ course grades and scores on assessments improved after participating in Math 180 by grade level. Math course grades and assessment descriptive data (i.e., means, standard deviations) and paired t-test results are presented in Table 2.
Course Grades
Course grade outcomes were examined by grade level for all Math 180 students. Students in all grade levels made statistically significant improvement on their course grades between fall and spring (from 86.58% to 95.08% in Grade 6, t = 3.82, p < .01, from 83.45% to 91.71% in Grade 7, t = 8.68, p < .001, and from 82.35% to 94.76 in Grade 8, t = 7.11, p < .001). Gains yielded large effect sizes for all grade levels (Cohen’s d = 1.10, 1.34, and 1.72 for Grades 6, 7, and 8, respectively). Fall to spring course grade growth is presented in Figure 1.
Math Growth Measure
On Math Growth Measure mean scores for students in Grades 7 and 8 increased significantly from fall to spring (from 34.35 to 45.17 in Grade 7, t = 3.02, p < .01, and from 21.35 to 44.94 in Grade 8, t = 3.02, p < .001), with medium and large effect sizes for Grade 7 (Cohen’s d = .48) and Grade 8 (Cohen’s d = 1.05) respectively (see Figure 2).
FAST
On average students in Grades 6 and 7 moved up a performance level between fall and spring on the FAST math assessment—from Level 1 to Level 2—whereas Grade 8 students remained in Level 1. However, FAST scale score gains between fall and spring for all grade levels were statistically significant (from 284.92 to 311.33 in Grade 6, t = 9.71, p < .001, from 290.67 to 315.40 in Grade 7, t = 7.03, p < .001, and from 293.24 to 312.35 in Grade 8, t = 2.81, p < .05). Gains yielded large effect sizes for Grades 6 and 7 (Cohen’s d = 2.80 and 1.08, respectively), and a medium effect size for Grade 8 (Cohen’s d = 0.68). Fall to spring course grade growth is presented in Figure 3.
To determine whether gains achieved in 2022–2023 simply mimicked gains achieved under non-Math 180 instruction, we compared Math 180 students’ course grade performance to their prior year performance when not enrolled in Math 180. Table 3 presents descriptive data (i.e., means, standard deviations) and paired t-test results for fall to spring math course grades over the two school years. In 2022–2023 gains at all grade levels were significant with large effect sizes, consistent with Figure 1. In the year prior to Math 180 instruction, Grade 6 students exhibited a slight decrease in course grades between fall and spring, Grade 7 students exhibited a significant decrease, and Grade 8 students exhibited a significant increase in course grades, but one that was approximately half the magnitude of that seen when the students were exposed to Math 180.
Repeated measure ANOVAs were conducted by grade level to examine how gains in course grades from fall to spring differed between the 2021–2022 and 2022–2023 school years. Results showed significant differences in growth between years for Grade 6 (F = 12.18, p < .01) and Grade 7 (F = 68.39, p < .001), with significantly greater growth in the 2022–2023 school year than in 2021–2022. Grade 8 students made greater growth in 2022–2023 than the prior year but due to a small sample size (n = 17), differences in growth were only marginally significant (F = 3.31, p = .080).
This study of 71 students in Grades 6 through 8 who were enrolled in Math 180 in 2022–2023 sought to measure how Math 180 students performed on math course grades, HMH’s Math Growth Measure assessment, and the FAST math assessment while participating in Math 180. Findings revealed that in all grade levels with sufficient sample sizes and across outcome measures Math 180 students made significant progress from fall to spring of the 2022–2023 school year: effect sizes ranged from medium to large for growth in course grades, the Math Growth Measure assessment, and the FAST math assessment. Further analyses were conducted on course grades, for which prior year fall and spring course grades were also available, allowing for a pre-Math 180 instruction versus Math 180-year comparison on the same sample of students. These findings found that improvement in course grades between fall and spring was greater in the year participating in Math 180 relative to the year prior to participating in Math 180, supporting a positive effect of Math 180.