How Three Middle Schools Implement Exact Path in Their Classrooms

Class schedules are tight, and educators may have difficulty fitting in time to develop programs that help students who need to catch up and regain their motivation. This seems to be especially true in secondary school settings, such as middle school. Thanks to the flexibility of Exact Path, Edmentum's diagnostic-driven, individualized learning program, you can support your middle school students at their learning level to help them accelerate into grade-level curriculum and beyond.

So, what is the secret to successfully implementing Exact Path daily? To answer this question, let’s explore how three Edmentum partners are leveraging Exact Path's features in their middle school classroom routines.

Intervention Class Periods at Navasota Independent School District

During the 2017–18 school year, Navasota Independent School District in Navasota, Texas, sought a way to identify middle school students needing response to intervention (RTI) to offer appropriate tiered interventions. Navasota ISD leaders implemented the NWEA MAP Growth assessment for grades 3–8 as a universal screener to assess student strengths and weaknesses and growth throughout the school year. For instruction, the team decided to utilize Exact Path because of its ability to integrate with each student’s NWEA MAP Growth results and provide targeted individualized instruction and practice.

In Navasota Junior High School, nearly all 8th grade students have an assigned class period in which they work on their individualized learning paths in Exact Path, while 6th and 7th grade students needing targeted intervention are enrolled into an intervention class period. While the intervention teacher works independently with each student or a small group, the rest of the students work on their own personalized paths in Exact Path.

“The teacher looks at the data [from Exact Path] to know which students to pull at the same time, which students are struggling in the same areas, and so they use that to help guide who they pull and what they work on,” explained Amberly Kolby, Navasota ISD district testing coordinator.

After the first a year of utilizing Exact Path, the district has a successful RTI program and has seen growth on test results of the STAAR, the Texas state assessment.

In-Person, Virtual, and Hybrid Learning at Cumberland Valley School District

Cumberland Valley School District (CVSD) in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, implemented hybrid learning in the 2020–21 school year, with students attending school in person two days a week for live instruction and then working on asynchronous assignments three days a week. With asynchronous learning days, middle school students work on Exact Path assignments created by their teacher and on their individualized learning paths to address skill gaps or accelerate learning.

Over time, teachers shared their ideas and successes, and before long, every student at the middle school level was using Exact Path every other day during study hall class periods in addition to using it in math class.

As a result of Exact Path's diagnostic and learning path data reporting, teachers can set concrete, achievable growth goals, and parenting conferences have become more meaningful as well. Exact Path serves as another data point used by CVSD school psychologists in determining Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and special services testing results.

“I think the biggest benefit is having the data at our fingertips and being able to use it,” said Stacey Knerr, CVSD math department supervisor. “It makes so much sense. And the data we get is far richer than any other program that I can pull.”

Dedicated Class Periods for Intervention and Individualized Learning at Cook County Schools

At Cook County Schools in Adel, Georgia, a dedicated interventionist leads Connections classes for struggling Cook Middle School students in math and reading, in which students work on individual skill gaps in their learning paths and can “level out” to earn additional time in the gym or other elective-based Connections classes. Cook Middle School students track their progress with a little car on a bulletin board where they can earn free Connections class periods when they reach their goal.

Leadership at Cook County Schools made enough strides in the 2019–20 school year to replicate the success in the intervention program by taking Exact Path districtwide. This has included expanding the use of the diagnostic as an initial measure of strengths and needs for all K–10 students, as well as a way to access to their individualized learning paths.

In 2019, the district earned the SSTAGE [Student Support Team Association for Georgia Educators] Star Award for Promising Practices for its superb intervention continuum across all grade levels, and it has achieved impressive year-over-year Lexile (for reading) and Quantile (math) growth to back it up.

“[Exact Path] doesn’t have to just be a computer program,” said Dr. Courtney Holley, district MTSS [multi-tiered system of supports] director and school psychologist. “It can direct your instruction if you use it in the way I think it’s intended. You can use it in small groups, you can use it individualized, and you can use it in whole-group [instruction].”

So, what is the secret to implementing Exact Path for middle school students? No secrets here—simply identify the challenges facing your middle school students, and then let Exact Path direct your instructional process in a way that works best for you. As Dr. Holley at Cook County Schools noted, “The way every school is utilizing Exact Path is a little bit different, and that’s how it should be.”

To check out more ways Exact Path is used in classrooms, here’s a look at our collection of Exact Path customer success stories from schools and districts across the country!