MIND Research Institute reports that Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools showed gains in math proficiency between 2010 and 2012 using its ST Math®, a visually based instructional software program.
”We’re seeing clearly that blended learning implementation by the school district and the business community are making a profound impact on the quality of math education in LAUSD,” said Mónica Garcia, Los Angeles School Board president. “Our teachers and students enjoy using ST Math, and we’re pleased to see that translating into improved test scores.”
The 35 LAUSD schools that fully implemented ST Math: K-5 in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years grew on average 11.7 points in the percentage of students scoring Proficient or Advanced in the California Standards Test, according to the report released today by the education non-profit MIND Research Institute. A comparison group of similar LAUSD schools not using the program averaged an increase of 6.4 points.
A total of 4,580 students in grades two, three, four, and/or five at schools where the grades completed an average of at least 50 percent of the ST Math curriculum, and where at least 85 percent of students participated in the program, were analyzed in the study. This group was compared to 9,692 students at 95 similarly performing schools in LAUSD who did not use ST Math.
ST Math, which aligns with California CST math standards at each grade level, provides instructional software, training, and support for a research-based math teaching and learning approach with visual math instruction. The software presents a yearlong curriculum of interactive, animated visual diagrams and puzzles for students to solve.
