Roberto Agodini

1
A summary of the major findings Achievement
Effects of Four Early Elementary School Math
Curricula Findings from First Graders in 39
Schools
Roberto Agodini Barbara Harris Sally
Atkins-Burnett Sheila Heaviside Timothy
Novak Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. Robert
Murphy SRI International Audrey
Pendleton Project Officer Institute of Education
Sciences
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Study Purpose

• Agodini and colleagues (2009) was the first
  national, large scale, randomized contrail trial
  (RCT) examining the effectiveness of four popular
  math programs
• Investigations in Number, Data, and Space
  (Pearson Scott Foresman)
• Math Expressions (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12)
• Saxon Math (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt K-12)
• Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics
  (Pearson Scott Foresman)
• Research study investigated the relative effects
  of different early elementary math curricula on
  student math achievement in disadvantaged schools.

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Study Design

• 39 Schools in four districts were included in
  sample and participated in the study during the
  2006-2007 academic year
• The four districts are geographically dispersed
  in four states in three regions of the country
• Compared to average schools, included schools
  were more likely to be Title I Eligible (53.8 of
  sample vs 41 of all American Schools)
• Included schools also had higher percentage of
  students receiving free or reduced meals (68.7
  of sample) than national average (47.4)
• Included schools also had higher greater
  percentage of minority students (53.8 of sample)
  than average classrooms (40.7)
• 131 school teachers were randomly assigned to one
  of the four curricula
• All teachers received initial training in their
  assigned program in the summer of 2006 and over
  95 of teachers received additional training in
  program during the academic year
• Fidelity reports revealed that almost all
  teachers (98) adhered to their assigned
  curriculum and used it as their core curriculum
• At time of posttest, 88 of teachers had
  completed at least 80 of assigned curriculum

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Study Design

• Students completed an assessment developed for
  the Early Childhood Longitudinal
  Study-Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K)1 at
  both the beginning and end of academic year
• The ECLS-K assessment is a nationally normed test
  having accepted standards of validity and
  reliability
• The assessment includes questions in the five
  math content areas (1) Number Sense, Properties,
  and Operations, (2) Measurement, (3) Geometry and
  Spatial Sense, (4) Data Analysis, Statistics, and
  Probability, and (5) Patterns, Algebra, and
  Functions.
• Analysis was computed using a random sample of 10
  students from each classroom who completed the
  ECLS-K once in fall and once in the spring
• To assess the effects of the four curriculums,
  researchers performed hierarchical linear
  modeling (HLM), controlling for 7 student level
  variables (e.g., pretest scores, ethnicity,
  IEP/special education status), 8 teacher level
  variables (e.g., education, experience), and 3
  school level variables (e.g., title 1
  eligibility, percentage of students eligible for
  free/reduced lunch)

1. West, J., Denton, K., Germino-Hausken, E.
(2000). Americas kindergartners. Publication No.
NCES 2000-070. Washington, DC U.S. Department of
Education, National Center for Education
Statistics.
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Results

• Students using Saxon Math and Math Expressions
  had significantly greater posttest scores than
  students using either Investigations in Number,
  Data, and Space or Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley
  Mathematics
• This significant difference meant that for a
  student at the 50th percentile in math
  achievement, students percentile rank would be 9
  to 12 points higher if the school used Math
  Expressions or Saxon Math.

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Results

• These significant differences remained when
  Agonidi et al. (2009) examined student
  achievement for subgroups including students
  scoring lower on pretest and students coming from
  schools with greater than 40 of students being
  eligible for free/reduced lunch

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Conclusion

• In the first national, large scale RCT comparing
  four popular math programs, Students using Saxon
  Math and Math Expressions for an academic year
  demonstrated significant greater math achievement
  when compared to students using either
  Investigations in Number, Data, and Space or
  Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics
• This achievement could not be attributed to
  differences in student characteristics, teacher
  ability or experience, or school level
  differences and was consistent across districts
  and among students coming from different
  subgroups
• Student difference in math performance also could
  not be attributed to other differences such as
  training or material covered as most teachers
  completed a majority of each program prior to
  students completing posttests
• Almost all teachers reporting using their
  assigned program for core instruction and most
  teachers and adhered to each curriculums
  essential features for instruction
• While these findings are tentative, this rigorous
  comparison of the four math programs suggests
  that the pedagogy and instructional approaches of
  both Saxon Math and Math Expressions leads to
  greater student achievement among first grade
  students.