Mathematica national evaluation of four early elementary math curricula¶

Element · All elements
Evidence · 6 claims (6 for) · 3 studies (3 causal), q2–q3 · 0 of 3 report an effect size · 6 claims rest on one study

Description¶

A large-scale, national study conducted by Mathematica Policy Research for the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences, comparing "the effects of four early elementary math curricula on improving student math achievement in disadvantaged schools". The study ran under the associated project "Evaluation of Mathematics Curricula" with a 2005-2013 time frame, and used experimental methods with school-level random assignment to estimate the curricula's relative effects on student math achievement.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• School-level random assignment to curricula conditions
• Focus on disadvantaged schools as the study setting

Constraints¶

• The report provided is a design document; it does not print outcome results

Target Learners¶

• Early elementary school students in disadvantaged U.S. schools

Target Learning Goals¶

• Improving student math achievement in early elementary grades

Claims¶

• A large-scale, rigorous study compared four elementary math curricula's effects on achievement across two years, first through second grade [+M]
• The study is the largest experimental-design study of multiple math curricula, covering 110 schools with this report based on the first cohort of 39 schools [+M]
• First-grade math achievement is significantly higher under Math Expressions and Saxon Math than under Investigations in Number, Data, and Space and Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics [+M]
• After two years of implementation, three of four elementary math curricula outperformed the fourth on student achievement in grades 1–2 [+M]
• The curriculum evaluation was the second report from a multi-year (2005-2013) IES-funded study of mathematics curricula [+M]
• The early elementary math curriculum used by schools mattered for student achievement in first and second grade [+M]

Related Elements¶

• Evaluation of Mathematics Curricula project (2005–2013)
• NIH Intramural Research Loan Repayment Program

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Roberto Agodini, John Deke, Sally Atkins-Burnett, Barbara Harris, Robert Murphy. (2008). Design for the Evaluation of Early Elementary School Mathematics Curricula. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research. https://www.mathematica.org/publications/design-for-the-evaluation-of-early-elementary-school-mathematics-curricula