Success of Mercer Island Elementary Schools' New Curricula Wouldn't Be Possible without Mercer Island Schools Foundation

Students in Samantha Moseley's second grade class at Island Park working on math.

Mercer Island, WA, April 11, 2025 - Three years ago, Mercer Island School District implemented two new curricula across Mercer Island elementary schools. After the implementation, students’ standardized test scores have improved significantly. 

Around five years ago, a perfect storm hit MISD elementary schools: the math curriculum was expiring and the reading curriculum was going out of print. It takes around two years to vet, decide on, and implement a new curriculum. A adoption committee of district staff, teachers, and a district parent set out to find curricula that would not only work as replacements, but could potentially improve upon the existing materials. 

After a grueling process, MISD landed on iReady Classroom Mathematics for math and Benchmark Advance for literacy  programs. The new programs improved upon what the elementary schools previously used, according to Nova Williams, the executive director of learning services with Mercer Island School District. They’re more comprehensive and a bit more challenging. Williams believes the new curriculum is responsible for higher performing test scores. However, the new curricula and the student success wouldn’t have been possible without the Mercer Island Schools Foundation (MISF). 

One of the standout differences between iReady Classroom Mathematics compared to math curriculum of the past is how comprehensive it is and it allows kids to experience math differently, Williams said. In particular, the curriculum’s focus on “math talk,” is a refreshing take on math instruction. 

“Kids should be able to explain their thinking and they should be able to describe to you the ways they can apply this same construct to something,” Williams said. “They're getting the conceptual piece of [math], which allows them to know how and why something worked, and now they can apply that same thing to this other problem and make it work.”

Another aspect of iReady that is unique is how it allows students to learn from their mistakes. 

“It teaches that it’s a normal thing for us to be wrong and the teacher doesn't just give the answer in that moment,” Williams said, “the teacher allows the kids to work through it, so it's a normal occurrence for them to encounter someone's work that's incorrect and then work through it to help support them in identifying the correct way to do it.” 

The students learn to work and learn from their peers. It’s a creative way of thinking that makes math more approachable. 

“With iReady Mathematics, any child can feel successful as a mathematician,” Williams said. 

Benchmark Advance, the reading program, has been a hit, too. Teachers appreciate the new reading curriculum because it includes phonics, phonological awareness, reading comprehension of informational and narrative text, writing, and concepts for spelling. The previous reading curriculum had reading and phonics programs that were independent from one another, something teachers merged together. 

Additionally, Benchmark Success contains “knowledge strands,” which are learning themes students encounter in each grade. As they progress through school, the knowledge strands deepen and complexify, expounding on previous instruction. 

“As they get older, those questions become more and more layered,” Williams said. 

In the past, teachers of older students noticed the curriculum often wasn’t challenging enough.

“Teachers in the upper grade levels really struggled with the text and how it wasn't really difficult enough,” Williams said. “That has not been the same issue that we've had with [Benchmark Success]. In fact, that was one of the things that our fifth grade adoption team members liked about [Benchmark Success] was that the text was much more challenging and that it focused a lot more on the nuances of comprehension and what that involves.”

Nationally 40% of fourth graders have performed at “below basic” in reading. MISD students are bucking those trends. The more complex and challenging curriculum hasn’t proven too difficult for MISD elementary schoolers. In fact, they’ve been excelling. 

“The tools that we're using now, compared to the previous tools, have a higher level of rigor and expectation for the kids,” Williams, “but they are rising to meet that.”

Williams compiled standardized test data from Smarter Balance standardized tests. She compared scores from 2017 and 2018 to tests from spring 2024, after the implementation of the new curricula. What she found was an 8% total increase in level four scores, the highest scores possible. Additionally, because so many more students were scoring higher in level four, scores in levels 3, 2, and 1 decreased. 

“We have more level four students than we previously had,” Williams said. 

The trends reflect the regular diagnostic tests students take throughout the year. With those content-specific diagnostic tests, teachers can glean how their students are doing on specific math and reading concepts. Then, they can focus on places where the students are weaker. It ensures students are fully understanding the concepts. 

Typically, schools don’t see growth like this until three or four years after adoption. And, the new changes—especially adopting two new curricula at the same time—wasn’t easy to implement. The quick success is a testament to the hard work of MISD’s teachers, who have worked tirelessly and spent hours on professional development to make the transition to and adoption of this curricula seamless.

Aside from the hard work from teachers, the new curricula also took help from funding partners. It wasn’t cheap. 

“We really would not be able to adopt curriculum if we did not have the Mercer Island Schools Foundation,” Williams said. 

The last time MISD elementary schools adopted new reading and math curricula, the school district footed the bill for part of it, and the schools Foundation paid for part of it.

“This time around the school the school district footed very little of it,” Williams said. “The schools foundation paid for nearly all of it.” 

Just the learning tools known as math manipulatives cost $35,000, a bill footed by MISF. Now, every elementary classroom has the math manipulatives it needs to teach iReady math effectively.

MISF covered most of the costs for the new curricula. Since the implementation of the new programs in 2022 and through the current school year, MISF has spent over $405,780, money the district couldn’t spare for these more robust, more rigorous programs that are having real impacts on Mercer Island students. 

“The only way we can ever change tools in this district is because of our schools foundation,” Williams said.

Nathalie Graham is a freelance writer based in Seattle. She regularly works with the Seattle Times, GeekWire, and The Stranger. She is highlighting MISD students, schools, and staff during the 2024-2025 school year. You can read more of her writing here. Read Nathalie’s Lakeridge, Crest , West Mercer and IMS stories.