Butte School District 1 is a rural district in Butte, Montana. The district includes 6 elementary schools and 1 secondary with a current enrollment of over 2,900 students in Grades Pre-K–8. The professional staff includes 184 teachers, with approximately 50 support personnel and administrators.
Butte School District 1 is eligible for Title 1 assistance. Ninety-five percent of the students are White, and the remaining student body consists of students identified as Hispanic (2%), Asian (2%), or other (1%). Seventeen percent of the students qualify for free/reduced-price lunch and 9% percent of the students have an Individualized Education Program (IEP).
The Montana Criterion-Referenced Test (CRT) is taken by all students in Grades 3–8 and 10, in the spring. The test includes assessment of reading, mathematics, and science. The test focuses on how well students have acquired the skills and knowledge described in the state Content Standards.
At Grades 3–5, the math Montana CRT comprises multiple choice, short-constructed response, and extended response items covering seven standards: Problem Solving, Number & Operations, Algebraic Concepts, Geometry, Measurement, Data Analysis, Probability & Statistics, Patterns, Relations & Functions.
The Montana CRT test scores are categorized into one of four levels of mastery including Level 1 (Advanced), Level 2 (Proficient), Level 3 (Nearing Proficient), and Level 4 (Novice). Students scoring at Advanced and Proficient are said to excel in the state content standards.
To determine if HMH GO Math! had an impact on learning, Montana CRT test scores from the spring of 2012, prior to using the program, and the spring of 2013, after one year of usage, were obtained for Grades 3, 4, 5, and 6. These findings are presented in Figure 1.
The comparison of achievement scores revealed that at all grade levels examined, the percentage of students scoring at Proficient or higher was greater in 2013, after using GO Math!, than the previous year with an average gain of over 4%.
This one-year examination of the implementation of GO Math! © 2012 at Butte School District 1 revealed that the program was associated with increased mathematics achievement.