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Effectiveness
Findings
The WWC review of interventions for Elementary School Math addresses student outcomes in math achievement. The findings below include both the author’s estimates and WWC-calculated estimates of the size and the statistical significance of the effects of Everyday Mathematics® on elementary students.10
Waite (2000) reported a statistically significant positive effect of Everyday Mathematics® on overall math achievement. In WWC calculations, this effect was not statistically significant. However, the WWC determined that the effects on math achievement were large enough to be considered substantively important (that is, an effect size of 0.25 or greater). Based on this one study, the WWC categorized the effect of Everyday Mathematics® on overall math achievement as being a substantively important positive effect. Waite (2000) also reported statistically significant positive subtest results (concepts, operations, and problem solving). In WWC calculations, the effects for each subtest were not statistically significant. However, the effects on each subtest were large enough to be considered substantively important. The subtest analyses do not factor into the intervention’s rating of effectiveness, as they are already represented as part of the full sample results.
Rating of effectiveness
The WWC rates the effects of an intervention in a given outcome domain as positive, potentially positive, mixed, no discernible effects, potentially negative, or negative. The rating of effectiveness takes into account four factors: the quality of the research design, the statistical significance of the findings, the size of the difference between participants in the intervention and the comparison conditions, and the consistency in findings across studies (see the WWC Procedures and Standards Handbook, Appendix E).