building a foundation for the future: the latest research on elementary school math curricula...
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Building a Foundation for the Future: The Latest Research on Elementary School Math
Curricula
—————————May 12, 2009
Charles Sumner SchoolWashington, DC
SEE Forums:
Becki Herman, SEE Forums Director, Managing Research Scientist, American Institutes for Research (www.air.org)
Supported through a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences (ies.ed.gov) of the U.S. Department of Education
Where do you think US students currently rank in math, internationally?
Where do you think US students are projected to rank in 20 years?
Focus and Context
Curricula Investigations in Number, Data, and Space (Pearson Scott Foresman) Math Expressions (Houghton Mifflin) Saxon Math (Harcourt Achieve) Scott Foresman-Addison Wesely (Pearson Scott Foresman)
Existing Current Research Base IES Practice Guide on RTI Math National Math Advisory Panel Report What Works Clearinghouse ES Math Curriculum Reports BEE ES Math Curriculum Review
Panelists:
Roberto Agodini, Senior Economist, Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Mary Lindquist, Professor Emeritus, Columbus College
Kati Haycock, President, Education Trust
Achievement Effects of Four Early Elementary School Math Curricula:
Findings from First Graders in 39 Schools
May 12, 2009
Roberto Agodini
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
Study Design
Compared math achievement of students in 4 curriculum groups:
Investigations in Number, Data, and Space Math Expressions Saxon Math Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics (SFAW)
Within each district, setup a school-level RCT with a total of:
39 schools 131 classrooms 1,309 students
Teacher reports about implementation
All attended initial training and nearly all (96%) attended follow-up training
Nearly all used their assigned curriculum as their core, and about a third supplemented
88% completing at least 80% of their curriculum's lessons
On average, Saxon teachers spent one more hour on math instruction per week than the other three curricula
Implemented a majority of their curriculum's features in the recommended way
Effects based on the ECLS-K math test
Student achievement was significantly higher in Math Expressions and Saxon schools, than Investigations and SFAW schools
The effect means that an average-performing student’s percentile rank would improve by 9 to 12 points if the school used Math Expressions or Saxon, instead of Investigations or SFAW
8 of 15 subgroups examined found significant differences between the curricula that are consistent with the main results
Next Steps
Two additional reports are planned
– Next report will present results for all 110 study schools, for both 1st and 2nd grades
– The last report will present results for sustained effects up through the 3rd grade for a subset of study schools
Future reports also will examine implementation using classroom observation data
Questions and Discussion
Are there curricula/instructional factors that might explain the strong effects after one year?
How does one interpret the differences between the two high performing curricula?
Would you expect the same results in years 2 and 3? Why?
What implications does the research presented today have on policy? Practice? Research?
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