Case Study: Paulding County School District in Paulding County, GA

District Overview

Location: Paulding County, Georgia (northwest metro Atlanta)

District Size: 34 schools serving approximately 31,000+ students

• 5 high schools 
• 10 middle schools
• 19 elementary schools

District Profile: 13th largest school district in the state of Georgia. As one of the fastest-growing communities in Georgia, Paulding County is expanding rapidly in population with significant diversity in incomes and housing. The district serves multiple Title I schools and is characterized as a low-wealth school district without substantial local industry, relying heavily on tax revenue and supplemental funding to support educational initiatives.

Key Leadership: 

Brandon Chason, Coordinator of Academic Support and Programs K-12
Brandon Chason brings a unique perspective to district leadership, having started his career as an elementary school teacher before transitioning to administration within Paulding County Schools. In his current role at the district office (now in his fourth year), Chason oversees all interventions K-12 across the entire district. His work has focused heavily on literacy initiatives, though his responsibilities span all content areas and grade levels. Chason’s hands-on approach includes conducting professional development sessions at schools, creating observational tools for implementation fidelity, and working directly with teachers and administrators to maximize instructional resources.

Focus Areas: Georgia Milestones EOG/EOC preparation, standards mastery, intervention support, and SAT®/ACT® college readiness

The Challenge: Bringing Order to the “Wild, Wild West”

When Brandon Chason took over coordination of Progress Learning for Paulding County Schools, he inherited what he candidly describes as a “wild, wild west” situation. The district had cycled through four or five different coordinators, and despite paying substantial licensing fees, implementation was inconsistent. Chason knew the district wouldn’t “make the traction that [they] needed unless somebody had oversight and was moving the needle,” so he volunteered to take it on.

The district faced multiple, interconnected challenges:

• Platform Underutilization: Years of coordinator turnover had resulted in inconsistent messaging, training, and expectations for usage across 34 schools.
• Budget Constraints with High Expectations: As a low-wealth school district with “a little but a lot to do,” Paulding County had to be strategic. They conducted usage audits of all platforms, eliminating underutilized programs including Nearpod and Smarty Ants to consolidate resources where they’d have the most impact.
• Fragmented Resources Across Content Areas: The district recognized what Chason calls a nationwide problem: resources for science and social studies are far more limited than for ELA and math. They needed a platform that could address all core subjects comprehensively.
• Critical Science Achievement Gaps: Fifth graders take science for the first time on Georgia’s state test, and Paulding County’s scores weren’t strong. The district needed immediate intervention support.
• Teacher Implementation Barriers: District leaders recognized a familiar challenge: central office develops big ideas, hands them to building leaders to implement, who then pass them to teachers already juggling thousands of daily concerns. Chason understood they needed to simplify the ask and meet teachers where they are.

The Progress Learning Solution: A Multi-Pronged Strategic Approach

Under Chason’s leadership, Paulding County didn’t just implement Progress Learning—they built a comprehensive ecosystem around it with clear expectations, celebration systems, professional development, and accountability measures.

Leadership and Vision: “Maximizing What We’re Doing With It”

Chason’s philosophy is direct: Are programs hitting multiple areas, multiple subjects, and the standard? If not teaching standards, there’s no growth. He positions Progress Learning not as curriculum replacement, but as critical support—a tool to help teachers with what they’re already doing.

Platform Consolidation: “The Progress Learning House”

To help teachers understand the full scope of available resources, Chason developed a simple metaphor. He describes Progress Learning as a house with multiple rooms: the assignment and assessment side, the Liftoff intervention side, and the grade-level standards-based questioning side. The foundation of the entire house? Actionable data at teachers’ fingertips to support instructional decision-making. This mental model helped teachers see how all the pieces fit together under one roof rather than navigating multiple disconnected platforms.

The Banner Campaign: Celebrating Success and Creating Momentum

At the end of the 2023-24 school year, Chason launched an innovative recognition program that transformed district culture. Schools that met specific metrics for both usage and student success received a physical banner to display in their building. Chason and Dr. Sandra Markowitz (his Progress Learning Enterprise Success Manager) conducted a whirlwind tour of the entire district to celebrate top elementary, middle, and high schools in person.

The impact was immediate. Seeing banners displayed in other buildings sparked healthy competition. As Chason notes, schools started saying they wanted to be recognized too, they wanted their purple banner. For 2024-25, he expanded the program with a second recognition level called “Light the Way” for schools that sustain excellence and serve as models for others. The goal isn’t to stop at one banner but to continue growth as Progress Learning adds new features and content.

Boots-on-the-Ground Professional Development

Rather than one-and-done training, Chason takes a sustained, hands-on approach:

• District Leadership Kickoff: Progress Learning sponsored lunch at the district’s administrative conference where Chason and Dr. Markowitz presented together so leaders heard both the district’s expectations and the platform’s full capabilities.
• School-Embedded Training: Chason conducts comprehensive professional development sessions at individual schools, explaining each component, available reports, and practical implementation strategies.
• Observational Walkthroughs: Chason created a custom observational tool and conducts walkthroughs with administrators, talking directly to students about what they’re doing and why. 

Strategic Student Engagement Systems

Schools implemented 15 to 18-day celebration cycles. Students who answer 100 or more questions with strong accuracy rates during each cycle earn recognition. Throughout the year, students receive “rocket pops” (popsicles) as rewards. At the end of the year, Progress Learning will recognize the student in each grade level who answered the most questions correctly across the entire district, celebrating their achievement during school-wide award ceremonies.

High School SAT®/ACT® Access

Chason mandated universal access to college readiness tools, noting research showing that students who practice SAT®/ACT® questions see a 10% score increase. His reasoning was simple: the district already pays for it, so every student should have access. He asks high schools to link SAT®/ACT® practice to students through homerooms. One principal immediately connected his 11th grade daughter to the resources. As Chason emphasizes, not every student is college-bound, but it’s about access and giving students the opportunity to try.

Even small implementations can yield results. If every teacher started class with one SAT® question daily, the cumulative impact on district scores would be significant.

Integration of Liftoff Science

When Progress Learning launched Liftoff for science, Paulding County was positioned to capitalize immediately. With fifth grade science scores below expectations and science being tested for the first time at that grade level, Liftoff helped teachers quickly identify existing gaps so they could address them proactively rather than reactively.

Measurable Results: Year-Over-Year Highlights

The following examples represent some of the measurable outcomes achieved through the strategic use of Progress Learning and Liftoff across Paulding County. These positive gains reflect the district’s focused implementation and commitment to data-informed instruction.

Elementary Grades (3-5)

3rd Grade ELA

• Engagement expanded from 1 to 44 sessions, contributing to a sustained performance increase of over 33 percentage points from Winter 2023–24 to Spring 2024

5th Grade ELA

• Scores increased from 55.41% (Spring 2024) to 63.68% (Spring 2025)
• Time on task rose from 11:37:20 to 92:15:42, supporting sustained gains

5th Grade Math

• Scores rose from 48.24% to 61.72%, a +13.48 percentage point increase
• Sessions nearly doubled from 133 to 256

Middle Grades (6-8)

6th Grade ELA

• Scores improved from 45.21% to 65.56%, a +20.35 percentage point gain
• Sessions surged from 58 to 576
  

6th Grade Math

• Scores increased from 57.72% to 64.75%, supported by over 640 sessions
  

7th Grade ELA

• Scores rose from 65.49% to 71.15% with consistent implementation

7th Grade Math

• Scores grew from 52.41% to 69.82%, a +17.41 point increase
• Maintained high engagement with nearly 300 sessions
  

High School End-of-Course (EOC) Performance

American Literature and Composition

• Demonstrated a steady upward trend: 54.09% → 65.86% → 68.22% across three testing windows
• Sessions increased from 67 to 148, maintaining momentum at 133
  

Biology EOC

• Scores improved over four periods: 46.99% (Winter 2023–24) to 58.19% (Spring 2025)
• Usage rose from 39 to 364 sessions, highlighting districtwide adoption

Key Success Factors: What Made the Difference

Strong District Leadership with Clear Accountability

Chason’s decision to take ownership of Progress Learning coordination was transformational. His consistent presence, clear messaging, and hands-on support gave teachers the structure and encouragement they needed to succeed.

Teacher-Friendly Messaging and Resources

Chason developed branded “one-pagers” specific to Paulding County that made implementation feel personal and accessible. He emphasizes practical applications teachers can implement immediately: bell ringers, tickets in the door, exit tickets. Teachers love the Focus Area feature because it highlights exactly what students need to work on. The assessment builder lets teachers quickly create five-question quizzes without writing items themselves, and the platform grades them automatically.

Meeting Teachers Where They Are

Chason recognizes the reality of classroom demands. Rather than asking teachers to completely overhaul their practice, he simplifies the request: You taught the standard, so have students work on that same standard in Progress Learning, then check the data to see if they’re getting it or if you need to reteach. This practical, actionable guidance makes adoption feel manageable rather than overwhelming.

Student Engagement and Ownership

By creating celebration systems at both school and district levels, Paulding County made Progress Learning something students wanted to engage with rather than had to use. But Chason looks beyond surface-level clicking. During observations, he checks whether students doing numerical reasoning have scratch paper and are showing work, whether they have supportive tools like hundreds charts nearby, and most importantly, whether they can articulate why they’re working on specific content.

Focus on Standards Alignment and Rigor

Chason’s mantra is clear: if you’re not teaching standards, you won’t see growth. He encourages teachers to use Progress Learning’s feedback button on questions, explaining that the more input teachers provide, the better the content becomes. It’s a cycle, and educators need to be part of it rather than waiting for questions to appear. When Georgia adopted new standards, teachers found immediate value in seeing how questions would be formatted and asked on the new assessments.

Inclusive Access Across All Student Populations

Every student from special education through general education uses the program. Small group teachers particularly value Liftoff because it works off grade level, helping them see exactly which skills still need attention. In co-taught classes, both teachers can access the same data simultaneously, ensuring they’re aligned on student needs and next steps.

Continuous Feedback Loop with Progress Learning Partnership

Chason maintains an active partnership with Dr. Markowitz, his Enterprise Success Manager, providing detailed feedback on features and requesting customizations to meet Paulding County’s specific needs. He describes her as fabulous and willing to come along with his ideas, whether they’re fully formed or still in the “harebrained” stage. That collaborative relationship has been essential to the district’s success.

Looking Ahead: Scaling Success Across 34 Schools

Paulding County’s transformation demonstrates what’s possible when district leadership takes ownership of implementation with clear vision, consistent support, and celebration of progress.

By the 2024-25 school year, the district had achieved:

• Dramatic expansion of implementation across all grade levels.
• Double-digit growth in critical areas, including ELA and math. 
• Sustained upward trajectories in high school courses.
• District-wide culture shift with schools actively seeking recognition through the banner campaign
• Systems for sustainability including observational tools, professional development protocols, and student celebration cycles

As Chason looks to the next phase, he’s focused on data analysis. He plans to work with teachers to interpret reports and determine next steps for individual students, connecting Progress Learning data with what they’re already seeing from tier one instruction.

His ultimate goal remains unchanged: use Progress Learning to its absolute maximum potential. For Brandon Chason and Paulding County Schools, that means continued growth, sustained partnerships, and ensuring every one of their 31,000+ students has access to the support they need to succeed.

Download the full case study to see how Paulding County Schools turned fragmented implementation into unified academic progress—and how your district can, too.