Annual Report 2025 – Moving Minds Forward

Real-World Impact: Evidence, Data, and Outcomes

“Year at a Glance” Milestones

Click the month to see each milestone

Innovations & Program Highlights

Partnerships Rooted in Long-Term Commitment: A Decade of Progress

Phillips 66:  10 Years of Community Transformation

For more than a decade, Phillips 66 has partnered with MIND to bring ST Math to communities across the country. Their investment has funded ST Math access for 126 schools across 23 districts, reaching more than 60,000 students.

A recent analysis of this 10-year partnership revealed remarkable results: students in Phillips 66–supported schools achieved more than twice the annual growth in math performance compared to peers and gained a 12.4 percentile point advantage in state math rankings by spring 2024.

Educators often describe the transformation not just in scores, but in mindset:

“Students are building perseverance and deep conceptual understanding while having fun.”
— Kim Anthony, Executive Director of Elementary Education, Billings Public Schools

Phillips 66 has also fueled Family Math Nights, local celebrations, and districtwide engagement efforts, turning math into a community experience.

John Deere: Strengthening Communities Through Family Learning

John Deere’s decade-long partnership with MIND reflects a shared belief that joyful, meaningful math learning strengthens entire communities. Their support has helped bring Family Math Week to districts across the Quad Cities area, deepening family engagement and celebrating the perseverance and curiosity of young learners.

At Hillcrest Elementary in East Moline, Math Week culminated in a special “Touch the Tractor” celebration after the school achieved remarkable participation with more than 220,000 minutes logged. To celebrate their hard work, John Deere partnered with the school to bring tractors and create a hands-on STEM experience that connected problem-solving to real-world careers. Students climbed aboard equipment, met engineers, and explored activities that reinforced the thinking skills behind their success. Despite national declines in mathematics performance, Hillcrest Elementary’s mathematics performance continued to move in an upward direction—and educators credit much of that growth to students’ perseverance and the impact of ST Math.

John Deere’s investment also supports ST Math in home communities as well as key innovation work at MIND, helping accelerate new tools, research, and early foundational development that continue to shape future learning experiences. Their partnership demonstrates how aligned communities can make learning joyful, inclusive, and connected beyond the classroom.

Districts Leading the Future of Learning, Research, and Belonging

Birmingham City Schools, AL – A Landmark Research Partnership

One of the most significant developments this year is Birmingham City Schools’ leadership in pioneering new research on student motivation and math achievement.

Supported by a Gates Foundation grant, Birmingham is leading a three-year research initiative with WestEd and MIND, exploring how motivation, persistence, and engagement influence math learning using real-time ST Math gameplay data.

Superintendent Dr. Mark Sullivan captured why this work matters:

“A strong curriculum isn’t enough if students aren’t engaged and motivated.”

Through this collaboration, Birmingham is co-designing new “right-now” indicators that help teachers identify when students are persisting, when they’re beginning to disengage, and when intervention can make the biggest difference.

This isn’t a program-level improvement. It’s system-level innovation that has the potential to influence math research and practice nationwide. It’s a model of what’s possible when visionary districts, researchers, and philanthropic partners work together to move an entire ecosystem forward.

San Mateo–Foster City, CA & Adams 12 Five Star Schools, CO

In San Mateo–Foster City, ST Math has become a catalyst for equity, perseverance, and belonging. In a district where more than half of students are socioeconomically disadvantaged and nearly a third are English learners, the shift has been remarkable. Interim assessments showed schools moving from 70–80% of students not meeting standards to 70–80% meeting them. Students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds gained eight percentage points on the state math assessment in a single year, with students experiencing homelessness showing meaningful gains as well.

Teachers describe classrooms where multilingual learners jump into puzzles on day one, classmates cheer each other on, and students routinely say, “I’ll get it the second or third time,” as they work through challenges. What emerges is more than improvement — it’s identity change. Students who once said “I’m not a math person” now see themselves as problem-solvers with the confidence to take on whatever comes next.

Across Adams 12 — a diverse district of more than 34,000 students located just north of Denver, CO — ST Math has reshaped what mathematical thinking looks and feels like for learners. With nearly half the district identifying as Hispanic/Latino and many students entering classrooms as emerging multilingual learners, teachers sought a way to elevate discourse, conceptual understanding, and student voice.

They found it through visual learning. Teachers report that math conversations have transformed — from quiet uncertainty to lively exchanges about patterns, strategies, and ideas. As one educator shared, “Students now have so many opportunities to talk about the math… it’s built a real love for math in my classroom.”

What leaders see echoes this shift: students taking risks, persisting through puzzles, supporting one another, and proudly sharing their strategies aloud. For many students, especially multilingual learners, visuals create a bridge to understanding — ensuring that expression and insight aren’t limited by language. In Adams 12, math has become a space where students feel seen, capable, and connected.

Communities Celebrating Learning Together

This year, math joy extended far beyond classrooms — it became a nationwide celebration.

During the first-ever National JiJi Day Puzzle Challenge, students, teachers, and families across the country united around a shared goal: solve as many ST Math puzzles as possible in one day.

The response was extraordinary.
In just 24 hours, students solved more than 6.3 million puzzles — representing 437,000 students across 3,747 schools.

Classrooms dressed up as JiJi, streamed celebrations, and watched their puzzle counts climb on a live national dashboard. What began as a challenge quickly became a movement — a collective reminder that perseverance, curiosity, and joyful struggle connect learners everywhere.

Family Math Nights and Math Weeks — supported in part by partners like Phillips 66, John Deere, Intel Corporation, and others — deepened that sense of connection. In gyms, cafeterias, libraries, and at home, families worked alongside their children to explore puzzles, strategies, and moments of insight.

As one principal shared:

“Families left saying, ‘I finally understand how my child thinks about math.’ That changes everything.” Across all of these moments, one theme was clear: when learning becomes joyful and shared, communities grow stronger — together.

Together, These Stories Share One Message

Path Forward: Scaling Impact Through Innovation and Equity

In the coming year, MIND Education will focus on strengthening its flagship programs and advancing the next generation of learning tools. This includes continued investment in ST Math with enhancements that deepen engagement, improve outcomes, and support educators at scale.

At the same time, MIND will advance InsightMath through close partnership with select educators and districts, gathering real classroom insights and early evidence to guide refinement. This deliberate, collaborative approach ensures the curriculum moves forward with a strong foundation of educator voice and demonstrated impact.

Together, these priorities reflect MIND’s commitment to scale what works, invest responsibly in what’s next, and ensure every student has access to math learning that builds understanding, confidence, and possibility.