ASSISTments is a free, research-based formative assessment platform primarily for grades three through eight that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to give students extra practice and provide feedback on their math assignments. Teachers using open-source core curricula can assign curriculum-aligned homework, problem sets, or quizzes through the ASSISTments platform, while students receive hints and explanations to assist their understanding as they complete assignments. In turn, teachers obtain real-time assignment reports detailing student and class performance, plus common wrong answers and insights, to inform classroom instruction. In 2025, ASSISTments reached 1,500 teachers and 83,000 students across all 50 states.
The organization has seen that students most in need of help benefit the most when their teachers use the platform. In one randomized controlled trial (RCT), researchers from SRI found that, after one year of using ASSISTments, seventh graders improved 0.18 SDs on math achievement, which translates into approximately six to seven months of learning. Students scoring at or below the median in math achievement prior to using ASSISTments saw impacts of 0.29 SDs, or almost a year of learning in math. A second RCT, conducted by WestEd, replicated these results, finding an impact of 0.10 SDs on students’ math achievement at the end of eighth grade, one year after ASSISTments use. Perhaps even more impressive, the researchers found that ASSISTments had the largest impact—about 0.22 SDs or seven months of learning—in schools with a higher proportion of economically disadvantaged students.
Overdeck Family Foundation has funded ASSISTments since 2024, and the organization’s co-executive director, Britt Neuhaus, is a Foundation alumna. In addition to general operating support, ASSISTments has received targeted capacity-building to develop a multi-year scale strategy, strengthen its leadership and governance, and identify market opportunities for growth and long-term sustainability.
