Using a Curriculum-Based Instructional Management System to Enhance Math Achievement in Urban Schools |
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| Abstract: | More than two-thirds of students living in U.S. low-income urban areas have not demonstrated basic levels of math achievement. Teachers are confronted with a difficult task of meeting the needs of an increasingly academically diverse population of urban students. There is a well-confirmed knowledge base on effective instruction, but teachers need massive amounts of information for effective, sustainable improvement and data-driven decision making. The bottleneck to improving teaching and learning is a lack of systematic, usable information on individual student performance and progress at the classroom level. We examined the effect of adding a computerized curriculum-based instructional management system as an enhancement to ongoing math instruction. Two math tests were used to contrast performance gains for students in the treatment group in comparison to two control groups: a same-school math instruction-only group, and a randomly selected district-wide math instruction-only group. Teachers in our experimental group implemented the treatment with varying degrees of fidelity, so we examined the impact of the level of implementation on student performance. We also examined the extent to which the treatment worked differently for high, middle, and low achieving students. There were positive outcomes for students in classrooms in which teachers used the instructional management system (Accelerated Math AM]). In fact, students enrolled in classrooms where teachers implemented the AM intervention to a greater degree benefitted the most. Gains in math performance were consistent for high, middle, and low performing students. Use of a computerized instructional management system enabled teachers to differentiate instruction, make instructional adaptations for students of all ability levels, and provide students with relevant practice and immediate informed feedback. It also resulted in significant gains in math achievement. |
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