Miami-Dade County Public Schools is the third largest school district in the United States with over 390 schools and 331,000 students. ExploreLearning has worked with this Florida district for over a decade — first with Gizmos math and science simulations, and later with Reflex, the most effective system for mastering basic facts in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
National Assessment of Educational Progress ( NAEP) long-term trend assessment data from the 2022-23 school year revealed the average 13-year-old’s math scores dropped by 9 points, significantly lower than in 2020, with a 14-point drop compared to a decade ago. Declines were even greater for lower-performing students. But despite these record-breaking lows, the average math scores of fourth-grade students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools were significantly higher in 2022 compared to other large public school districts in the United States. What’s their secret?
Reflex Brings Results
Between 2009 and 2013, Miami-Dade’s grade 4 NAEP math scores remained relatively unchanged. But in 2013, Miami-Dade purchased Reflex for all elementary schools. In 2015, Miami-Dade’s grade 4 math NAEP scores increased by 5 points, opening an 8-point gap over other large city districts. Economically disadvantaged students grew even more, scoring 11 points above the large city average for National School Lunch Program-eligible students. Miami-Dade continued to make gains in 2017, even as the large city average declined, and in 2019.
In
2022, the average grade 4 Miami-Dade math score was 241, 14 points higher than the large city public school average of 227 and 5 points greater than the national average of 236.
“Reflex has helped Miami-Dade County Public School students in grades 2-8 gain basic math fact fluency, a fundamental skill which opens the door to higher mathematics. We have also noticed that the past three years of usage coincide with the increase in our fourth-grade NAEP mathematics scores.”
-District Supervisor, Division of Instructional Technology, Miami-Dade County Public Schools
Miami-Dade Students Enjoy Continued Success
Students of all ages and ability levels make great gains with the evidence-based Reflex system, all while having fun and building positive attitudes about math.
Roughly 55% of Miami-Dade County Public School students are economically disadvantaged. Despite nationwide math declines in 2022, the most vulnerable Miami-Dade students experienced significantly smaller drops in mathematics compared to national and large city counterparts. In 2019, 85% of Miami-Dade students eligible for free and reduced lunch scored at or above NAEP Basic levels, dropping only 6 percentage points to 79% in 2022. Meanwhile, their national and large city peers experienced steeper declines at 9 and 12 percentage point drops, respectively.
Reflex Builds Strong Math Foundations
Extensive research underscores the critical role of fact fluency in elementary school math and beyond; it allows students to free up brainpower to solve more complex math, such as word problems or multi-step equations. Multiplication fluency is also shown to impact success with fractions, and retrieval speed is a known predictor of success on standardized tests, math concept problems, data interpretation, and mathematical reasoning.
The
latest research found that across all three achievement levels, students who used Reflex (for math facts) and Frax (for fractions) experienced larger score gains compared to non-users, with the most academically at-risk experiencing the most significant growth.
Reflex builds math fact fluency for grades 2+
Adaptive and individualized. Every student can succeed in becoming math fact fluent.
Effective. Studies show statistically significant, positive results for Reflex users.
Data-driven. Powerful reports help educators monitor and support student progress.
Game-based. Fun challenges and frequent rewards keep students coming back.
Anytime, anywhere. Students can use Reflex anywhere there's an Internet connection.