Study Background

Across the 2023 – 2024 school year, over 20% of Texas public elementary schools used STEMscopes Math in their 4th grade classrooms. This report looks at how STEMscopes Math influenced students’ performance on the 2024 State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in math. The main goal is to see if students in schools using STEMscopes Math did better on their math exams compared to similar schools who did not use the program.

What We Did

To understand the impact of STEMscopes Math, we compared STAAR math outcomes in schools using STEMscopes with those from schools using other math programs. We wanted to make sure that the schools we compared were similar in many ways, so any differences in scores would be due to STEMscopes Math. We matched schools based on several characteristics, like the percentage of students from different ethnic/racial backgrounds, the overall size of the school, and the percentage of students receiving special services.

Key Findings

1. Overall Performance: Students in schools using STEMscopes Math in 4th grade had higher STAAR benchmarks than comparison schools in all positive categories (Approaches, Meets, Masters), and a lower percentage of students who did not meet grade level benchmarks. STAAR scale scores in STEMscopes schools were 6.49+ points higher than non-STEMscopes schools. This means STEMscopes schools gained more across the 4th grade year: STEMscopes schools gained ~103 points on average between 3rd and 4th grade while control schools gained ~96 points. All impacts were statistically significant.

2. Subgroup Analyses: All student subgroups in STEMscopes Math schools had positive increases above and beyond comparison groups’ 2024 average scales scores in non-STEMscopes Math schools. Differences were significant for males, females, African American students, Hispanic/Latinx students, White/Caucasian students, and English Language Learners as well as English speakers. Impacts were similar across subgroups.

3. More STEMscopes, Greater gains: STEMscopes Math schools that used the curriculum for longer had significantly higher 2024 average scale scores and a higher percentage of students that Met grade level expectations. For every additional year of use, schools’ average scale score increased 2.88 points, and the percentage of students meeting grade level when up 0.65 percentage points. Thus, schools where students had STEMscopes Math in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade (3 years) had average scale scores that were 8.64 points higher in 2024 than matched controls. There was also a 1.95+ percentage point increase in the percent of students meeting grade level expectations (M = 43.93%) in schools that used STEMscopes for 3 years compared to non-STEMscopes schools (M = 41.98%).

Conclusion

This report provides evidence that STEMscopes Math may help improve math achievement for various student groups in Texas’ elementary schools. Results demonstrate “moderate evidence of effectiveness” (Tier 2) based on ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) guidelines. Longer use of STEMscopes Math resulted in boosts to 4th grade scores and the percentage of students meeting STAAR grade level benchmarks.