Brownsboro ISD Raises STAAR Math Scores in Grades 3-5 in First Year with STEMscopes Math

Schools

K-12

Grades

2,584

students

59.6%

Economically Disadvantaged

5.8%

Emergent bilingual/English learners

15%

Special Education

0.4%

American Indian

0.5%

Asian

5.8%

Black

17.4%

Hispanic

0.5%

Pacific Islander

72.8%

White

2.9%

Two or More Races

Executive Summary

Challenges

Inconsistent math curricula in classrooms and schools

Implementation

STEMscopes Math

Results

Increased curriculum-based assessment (CBA) scores
Improved performance on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in mathematics
Increased student engagement
Increased teacher enjoyment

Background

In Brownsboro ISD, teachers at the district’s two elementary and two intermediate campuses were using an array of materials to teach math. “Typically, teachers worked as a team by grade level or campus to find curriculum materials to address the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS),” said Michelle Wood, an instructional coach for Brownsboro ISD. “The materials weren’t bad but they were too scattered. As a result, we started to notice alignment issues. We needed something more consistent.”

Implementing a math program district-wide

In 2021, leaders in the rural Texas district began searching for a math curriculum solution that could be used district-wide in grades K-5 and found STEMscopes Math.

“STEMscopes Math is 100% TEKS aligned. That alignment, combined with the rigor and depth of the curriculum, is why we chose it,” said Wood.

STEMscopes Math is built from the ground up by practicing educators to meet today’s standards. It incorporates the flexible 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate) plus Intervention and Acceleration lesson model to bring math to life. Available in a digital format, enhanced by print materials, and brought to life through hands-on kits, it empowers students to engage in inquiry and investigation, and make real-world connections to deepen their learning.

Brownsboro ISD began using STEMscopes Math in grades K-5 in fall 2021 and expanded it to grades 6-7 the following year.

“Teachers can use STEMscopes Math pretty easily once they understand how it’s organized, and it doesn’t take long. STEMscopes Math is now our teachers’ primary resource, and they love it. They have really seen the benefit of it," said Wood.

Supporting teachers

At the beginning, teachers were given time to experiment with STEMscopes Math and the district supported them in their planning. “We created a framework — for our teachers, with our teachers,” said Wood. “It embeds a lesson plan in a Google Sheet and includes the most important lessons and activities that should be covered for the week.” During professional learning community (PLC) time, district instructional coaches also introduced teacher supports in STEMscopes, such as set-up videos. “Teachers were really excited about those. They could watch the video and off they went,” she said. “They also like the lesson planning materials and the fact that they’re explicit. It’s a great support for them.”

Supporting hands-on learning, discourse, and discussion

In addition to the digital STEMscopes curriculum, Brownsboro teachers enjoy using the Fluency Builder Kit to set up skill-based game stations and spiral review activities. Separated by TEKS, each folder in the kit is organized by lesson activity, and the activities replicate the content from each scope’s Elaborate phase. “The kits get students involved in hands-on learning,” said Wood. STEMscopes Math also promotes collaboration, listening, and expression through purposeful math discussions that broaden students’ mindsets and encourage educational growth.

“Teachers love the Decide and Defend. That’s a really popular activity in whole group teaching and in small groups,” she said.

Developing student expectations across grade levels

According to Wood, the vertical alignment in STEMscopes makes it easier to develop student expectations across grade levels, which also supports their efforts to create more consistency in classrooms and schools. “After our first year with STEMscopes Math, our teachers could see that students had a better understanding of things like place value and numeracy when they entered second and third grade,” she said.

“The difference in students’ understanding in foundational math practices made our teachers’ jobs much easier this year. They also said that their students came to them with a much better understanding of fractions. When they got to that unit, they said our kids blew it out of the water. The mini-lessons and the Explores in STEMscopes have helped our students make big gains.”

Improving reading and writing skills

Brownsboro teachers also say that students’ reading and writing has improved since they began using STEMscopes Math. “Our students are able to better explain themselves and their thinking because the materials in STEMscopes Math encourage that,” said Wood.

"Teachers are seeing that their students are becoming more fluent writers. Their critical thinking skills have improved and that shows in their writing.”

Making teaching fun

Through open-ended and cross-dimensional tasks, STEMscopes encourages students to explore a wide range of mathematical approaches in real-world contexts. “STEMscopes Math is relevant to the kids. When we’re building background knowledge, it’s about something they want to know about. They can get really engaged because it means something to them,” said Wood. Students’ engagement in math helps boost teachers’ enjoyment as well.

“One fourth grade teacher came to me and told me about a puzzle her students were working on in STEMscopes Math. At first she wasn’t sure about it, but her kids enjoyed it and it really helped their understanding of things like parts to the whole and decimals to fractions. She said, ‘They’re having so much fun. This makes teaching fun again.’ For teachers to be able to facilitate those types of activities and see their students engaged while they’re learning — that has won over our teachers. They’re seeing the benefits, and they can see from the data that it’s working.”

Achieving growth on district assessments

“Because our students are much more engaged, they’re ready to jump into math,” said Wood. “They’re not as intimidated by it. We don’t hear ‘I’m not good at math’ as much as we used to and it’s because of the engagement. Students feel like they can dig into it — and we’ve seen a difference in the data across grade levels. We still have some growing to do, but we’ve seen a significant increase in our Curriculum Based Assessment (CBA) scores. We’ve even seen growth in K-1. Our students go on to the next grade level more prepared, and our teachers feel like they are more successful with their students in math.”

Increasing STAAR scores in math

In Brownsboro ISD’s first year with STEMscopes Math, the percentage of students who approached, met, or mastered grade-level learning goals increased on the STAAR.

Brownsboro ISD – Grade 3-5

STAAR Performance Levels – Mathematics

	APPROACHES			MEETS			MASTERS
GRADE	2021	2022	+/-	2021	2022	+/-	2021	2022	+/-
3	76%	80%	+4	35%	51%	+16	17%	27%	+10
4	71%	75%	+4	42%	42%	+0	26%	21%	-5
5	78%	86%	+8	45%	60%	+15	20%	25%	+5

Supporting teachers and students

“STEMscopes Math is a quality product,” said Wood. “Teachers all want what’s best for their students and it takes a while to build teacher trust. But STEMscopes Math has won over even our hardest sells, and our kids are benefiting, which you can see from their assessment scores. Just walking into a classroom, it’s evident how much students are enjoying math. They want to go to math. It’s a lot more fun.”

Rural Texas District Raises STAAR Math Scores in Grades 3-5 in First Year with STEMscopes Math

Brownsboro Independent School District - Brownsboro, Texas