HB23-1231: Mathematics Outcomes Improvement

• Department of Education must contract by January 2024 to create free optional evidence-informed mathematics trainings using a train-the-trainer model for elementary and secondary educators, with content aligned to student academic standards and focused on helping struggling students, children with disabilities, and English language learners.

• Creates Colorado Academic Accelerator Grant Program with $24.5 million in appropriations to establish community learning centers providing free tutoring and academic enrichment in STEM and mathematics, particularly for high-needs students, with three-year grant terms.

• School districts and charter schools are strongly encouraged to adopt procedures to identify students below grade level in mathematics, notify parents, provide intervention resources, and implement train-the-trainer or train-the-parent frameworks.

• District and school improvement plans must identify strategies to address needs of students struggling in mathematics, set ambitious but attainable targets for improvement, and may include tutoring, educator training, personalized learning models, or digital mathematics accelerator programs.

• Appropriates $26,694,530 total to the Department of Education for 2023-24 budget year: $594,530 for math educator training, $24,500,000 for the accelerator grant program, and $1,600,000 for the ninth-grade success grant program.