Supporting Multilingual Learners with GROW
How Harnett County Schools increased i-Ready scores for English Language Learners by 17.93 points in 12 weeks
Many school districts nationwide grapple with a shortage of teaching resources, making it difficult to provide targeted intervention for students who need it most. At Harnett County Schools (HCS) in North Carolina, this challenge was particularly acute for English Language Learners (ELLs) struggling in math.
With limited teaching resources, many classrooms relied on virtual teachers or teachers supervising multiple classrooms. Many ELL students were behind two or more grade levels and weren’t receiving the intervention they needed to make significant gains.
Recognizing the need for a scalable, high-impact solution for all students, the district turned to GROW to bridge the gap.
GROW Solution: High-Impact Math Tutoring to Strengthen Language and Comprehension Skills
In the spring of 2024, Harnett implemented Tier 2 high-impact math tutoring for 70 predominantly ELL students across 6th and 7th grade.
GROW tutors were tasked with frontloading Tier 1 classroom instruction, focusing on math vocabulary as a mitigation strategy to reduce identified language-based performance barriers and push the needle further than with stand-alone classroom instruction.
Impact: Measurable Academic Gains and Increased Student Confidence
The fall 2024 GROW program delivered notable academic gains for 6th and 7th grade students, as reflected in their BOY & MOY i-Ready assessment scores:
• 6th grade students saw an average increase of 17.93 points
• 7th grade students gained an average of 9.3 points
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Beyond academic gains, students and teachers reported a noticeable increase in confidence. Teachers observed that students had stronger foundational knowledge and were more engaged learners due to their participation in GROW. Students felt more confident in end-of-year testing, were more proactive in seeking help, and demonstrated greater independence when working on math problems.
The success of this approach was so compelling that HCS elected not only to continue GROW but to expand it in the 2024-2025 school year
The success of this approach was so compelling that HCS elected not only to continue GROW but to expand it in the 2024-2025 school year, increasing enrollment to 100 students per semester in both fall and spring programs.
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