GO Math!: Scott County School District

At a glance

  • Demonstrates a Rationale
  • Program: Go Math!®
  • Subject: Math
  • Report Type: Efficacy Study
  • Grade Level: Elementary
  • Region: Southeast
  • District Urbanicity: Rural
  • District Size: Medium
  • District: Scott County School District, KY
  • Outcome Measure: The Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress
  • Evaluation Period: 2013–2014
  • Study Conducted by: HMH Research

Scott County School District is a rural district in Georgetown, Kentucky. The district includes 8 elementary schools and 6 secondary with a current enrollment of over 8,400 students in Grades K–12. The professional staff includes 486 teachers, with approximately 594 support personnel and administrators.

Scott County School District is eligible for Title I assistance. Eighty-three percent of the students are White, and the remaining student body consists of students identified as Hispanic (7%), Black (7%), or other (3%). Forty-two percent of the students qualify for free/reduced-price lunch and 13% percent of the students have an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

The Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (K-PREP) is taken by all students in Grades 3–8, 10, and 11 in the spring. The test includes assessment of reading, mathematics, social studies, and science. The test focuses on how well students have acquired the skills and knowledge described in the state standards.

At Grades 3–5, the math K-PREP comprises multiple choice, short-constructed response, and extended response items covering five domains: Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base Ten, Number and Operations—Fractions, Measurement and Data, and Geometry.

The Kentucky state test scores are categorized into one of four levels of mastery including Level 1 (Novice), Level 2 (Apprentice), Level 3 (Proficient), and Level 4 (Distinguished). Students scoring at Proficient or above are excelling.

To determine if HMH GO Math! had an impact on learning, K-PREP mathematics test scores from the spring of 2013, prior to using the program, and the spring of 2014, after one year of usage, were obtained for Grades 3, 4, and 5. These findings are presented in Figure 1.

5 4 Go Math Research Base Scott Graph Fig1 1
FIGURE 1. Percent of Students Proficient and Distinguished

The comparison of achievement scores revealed that at all grade levels examined, the percentage of students scoring at Proficient or higher was greater in 2014, after using GO Math!, than the previous year with an average gain of over 5%.

This one-year examination of the implementation of GO Math! © 2012 at Scott County School District revealed that the program was associated with increased mathematics achievement.