Effectiveness
Saxon Math was found to have no discernible effects on math achievement for high school students.
Program Description
Saxon Math is a textbook series covering grades K–12 based on incremental development and continual review of mathematical concepts to give students time to learn and practice concepts throughout the year. A distinguishing feature of Saxon Math is its use of a distributed approach—spreading practice and instruction for any single math content strand across the course of the entire instructional year—as opposed to a chapter-based approach for instruction and assessment. The program is built on the premise that students learn best when instruction is incremental
and explicit, previously learned concepts are continually reviewed, and assessment is frequent and cumulative. At each grade level, math concepts are introduced, reviewed, and practiced
over time in order to move students from understanding to fluency.
Research
One study of
Saxon Math that falls within the scope of the High School Math review protocol meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards with reservations. The one study included 278 high school students in two districts in Colorado.
Based on the one study, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for Saxon Math on high school students to be small for math achievement.
