For Immediate Release
Contact: Chad Colby: chad.colby@greatminds.org
Friday, Sept. 27, 2019—District of Columbia Public School students once again made significant math gains in almost every grade level on the end-of-year PARCC test with Eureka Math®, the curriculum in use across district schools.
On the test administered this past spring, 32.4 percent of students achieved a Level 4 or Level 5—the highest scores. That’s up from 23.9 percent hitting those marks in the 2015–2016 school year, the year before Eureka Math was adopted.
DCPS students have made improvements in each of the three years the curriculum has been in place. Eureka Math is written through a collaboration of teachers and mathematicians and published by the Washington, D.C.-based firm Great Minds®.
DCPS also saw the percentage of students struggling in math, scoring at Level 1 or Level 2, drop, meaning more students are making progress across achievement levels.
Some of the biggest gains were seen in high school students, with a 5.4 percentage point increase on the latest assessment in students performing at the proficient level in Geometry and Algebra II.
Neighboring Montgomery County Public Schools is rolling out Eureka Math this fall after a Johns Hopkins University review found the district’s outgoing curriculum wasn’t adequately aligned with college- and career-ready learning standards.
Great Minds developed Eureka Math and its predecessor, EngageNY Math, working with classroom teachers and mathematicians from higher education. The creators sought to produce a math curriculum that would meet more rigorous learning standards; improve students' understanding of mathematics as a body of knowledge rather than simply a set of skills; help students better apply math toward solving real-world problems; and provide teachers with detailed instructional methods.
Independent reviewers, including EdReports.org, have given Eureka Math high scores for alignment with standards and usability in the classroom. Eureka Math is available for Prekindergarten through Grade 12.
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About Great Minds: Great Minds provides the highest quality curricula to schools and districts nationwide, inspiring joy in teaching and learning. Great Minds is the only curriculum creator to have earned three Tier 1 ratings, the highest possible, from the Louisiana Department of Education, highly respected for its curricular leadership. Curricula earning the Tier 1 ratings were Wit & Wisdom®, Eureka Math, and PhD Science™. A 2016 RAND Corporation report found Eureka Math and its original version, EngageNY Math, to be the most widely used elementary school math curricula in the nation. Geodes®, a library of beautifully illustrated, content-rich books with phonics practice for emerging readers, is the latest Great Minds offering to delight teachers and students. Learn more at greatminds.org.
