Research
Twelve studies reviewed by the WWC investigated the effects of Scott Foresman–Addison Wesley Elementary Mathematics on elementary students. Two studies (Agodini et al., 2009; Resendez & Azin, 2006) are randomized controlled trials that meet WWC evidence standards.6 One study (Resendez & Manley, 2005) is a randomized controlled trial that meets WWC evidence standards with reservations. The remaining nine studies do not meet either WWC evidence standards or eligibility screens.
Meets evidence standards
Agodini et al. (2009) presented results for 39 schools that had been randomly assigned to one of four conditions: Scott Foresman–Addison Wesley Elementary Mathematics (11 schools), Saxon Math (9 schools), Investigations in Number, Data, and Space (10 schools), and Math Expressions (9 schools). The analysis included 1,309 first-grade students and 131 teachers who were evenly divided among the four conditions. The study compared average spring math achievement of students in each condition. The study reported student outcomes after one school year of program implementation.
Resendez and Azin (2006) randomly assigned 39 teachers of 3rd- and 5th-grade students to Scott Foresman–Addison Wesley Elementary Mathematics (20 teachers) or a comparison condition (19 teachers). The analysis included approximately 850 students in the 39 classrooms. The comparison curricula included two distinct basal curricula and a school-created math program based on a number of different math materials from various resources. The study compared average student math achievement outcomes of classrooms in the intervention condition (20 classrooms) with those of the comparison condition (19 classrooms). The classroom-level means included 837 to 862 students, depending on the outcome measure used.7 The study reported student outcomes after one year of program implementation.
Meets evidence standards with reservations
Resendez and Manley (2005) was a randomized controlled trial with severe differential attrition. The authors randomly assigned 35 teachers of 2nd- and 4th-grade students to Scott Foresman–Addison Wesley Elementary Mathematics (18 teachers) or a comparison condition (17 teachers) using five different elementary math programs. The analysis included 533 to 645 students, depending on the outcome measure used. The teachers in the intervention condition were in their first year of implementing the Scott Foresman–Addison Wesley Elementary Mathematics program. The comparison programs included chapter-based basal curricula and strand/module-based investigative curricula. The study compared math achievement outcomes of students in the intervention condition with those of the comparison condition. The study reported student outcomes after one year of program implementation.
Extent of evidence
The WWC categorizes the extent of evidence in each domain as small or medium to large (see the the WWC Procedures and Standards Handbook, Appendix G). The extent of evidence takes into account the number of studies and the total sample size across the studies that meet WWC evidence standards with or without reservations.8
The WWC considers the extent of evidence for Scott Foresman–Addison Wesley Elementary Mathematics for elementary students to be medium to large for mathematics achievement.
6 One of the three comparisons in Agodini et al. (2009) demonstrated differential attrition of more than 5 percentage points; therefore, this one comparison
is rated as meeting evidence standards with reservations.
7 Number of students indicates the number posttested.
8 The extent of evidence categorization was developed to tell readers how much evidence was used to determine the intervention rating, focusing on the number and size of studies. Additional factors associated with a related concept—external validity, such as the students’ demographics and the types of settings in which studies took place—are not taken into account for the categorization. Information about how the extent of evidence rating was determined for Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Elementary Mathematics is in Appendix A6.