Beast Academy is a comics-based math program for students ages 6–13 that includes online and paper-based components and is used throughout the country. Beast Academy focuses on mastery of math skills instead of memorization, utilizing games and puzzles to develop students’ understanding and problem-solving skills in math.

This brief reports on an independent evaluation of the efficacy of the Beast Academy program in Mankato Area Public Schools (MAPS), a school district serving approximately 8,500 K–12 students in Mankato, Minnesota.

Elementary and middle school MAPS classroom teachers used Beast Academy to provide instruction and enrichment to two groups:

  • “Cluster” students, consisting of students the district has designated as gifted and talented
  • “Rising Scholar” students, high-ability learners from populations that have been historically marginalized in programming for academically talented students, including those the district refers to as culturally diverse, economically diverse, linguistically diverse, and twice exceptional students

Key Finding: Results from the evaluation indicated that the use of Beast Academy had a positive, statistically significant effect on math achievement after 2 years of exposure to the program.