Prince George’s County Public Schools’ Students Achieve Significant Improvements in Middle Grades Math with Speak Agent

Groundbreaking study of 1,600 classrooms finds Speak Agent Math+Language has a significant, positive effect on both Math and English language proficiency test scores.

ROCKVILLE, MD – Feb. 21, 2023 – A new impact study at Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) found that students in grades 6 to 8 who used Speak Agent Math+Language℠ outperformed their peers who did not use the program. Students who completed ten Speak Agent learning activities experienced a ten percent higher mean score than their peers on the PGCPS Math Benchmark assessments.

In addition, multilingual learners experienced a 17-point (five percent) higher mean score on the WIDA ACCESS for ELLs test, in addition to a higher math score. This is the first large-scale study to find a positive, independent effect at a 99.9% confidence level for both Math and English language proficiency scores, as measured by third-party assessments, caused by a single education technology program.

“We chose Speak Agent’s Math+Language program to develop middle-grade math literacy, communication, and reasoning skills,” said Dr. Michelle Dyson, PGCPS Mathematics Instructional Supervisor for Grades 6-8. “We could see students making progress, so we collaborated with our ESOL department to commission this study to quantify the impact. This research shows that our implementation – which closely integrates with our curriculum – helped students make strong gains on math and ELD assessments.”

Speak Agent Math+Language improves math performance for all students by empowering them to learn math through language. Students use the program to master key math concepts, develop reasoning and modeling skills, and to express mathematical thinking and ideas. Speak Agent courses map to fit the school district’s curriculum so that teachers can seamlessly integrate the program into their teaching practice. It includes learning supports and scaffolds for all learners, including multilingual and historically marginalized learners.

“Our cross-departmental goal was to improve outcomes for not only our multilingual learners but for all learners,” said Dr. Melissa Kanney, PGCPS ESOL Supervisor. “All of our students who used the Math+Language program were able to improve both their math outcomes and English language proficiency. What’s so exciting about this study is that it provides evidence that our implementation of Speak Agent is helping us meet our goals.”

Download the full research report >

APA Citation: Huebert, E. (2022). Effect of Speak Agent on Math and English Language Proficiency Scores at Middle Grades in Prince George’s County Public Schools. Leanlab Education. https://www.speakagent.com/evidence

About Prince George’s County Public Schools

Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS), the nation’s 20th largest school district, has 208 schools and centers, more than 136,500 students and nearly 20,000 employees. The school system serves a diverse student population from urban, suburban and rural communities located in the Washington, DC suburbs. PGCPS is nationally recognized for college and career-readiness programs that provide students with unique learning opportunities, including dual enrollment and language immersion.

About Speak Agent, Inc.

Speak Agent is a research-based English language development (ELD) platform that significantly impacts math and ELD outcomes for all K-12 students. Speak Agent’s Math+Language program improves math performance by empowering students to learn math through language. They use the program to master key math concepts, develop reasoning and modeling skills, and to express mathematical thinking and ideas. Speak Agent engages students with ready-to-use digital lessons that seamlessly integrate with your existing curriculum and provide actionable data to inform both individual and group instruction.

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