Overview
Program Description1
The combination of Carnegie Learning Curricula and Cognitive Tutor® Software merges algebra textbooks with interactive software developed around an artificial intelligence model that identifies strengths and weaknesses in an individual student’s mastery of mathematical concepts. The software customizes prompts to focus on areas in which the student is struggling and routes the student to problems that address those specific concepts.
Research2
Two studies of the combination of Carnegie Learning Curricula and Cognitive Tutor® Software that fall within the scope of the High School Math review protocol meet What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards, and two studies meet WWC evidence standards with reservations. The four studies included 1,723 high school students in 27 schools across 7 districts.3
Based on these four studies, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for the combination of Carnegie Learning Curricula and Cognitive Tutor® Software on high school students to be medium to large for mathematics achievement.
Effectiveness
Carnegie Learning Curricula and Cognitive Tutor® Software was found to have no discernible effects on mathematics achievement for high school students.
| Mathematics achievement | |
|---|---|
| Rating of effectiveness | No discernible effects |
| Improvement index4 | Average: –4 percentile points Range: –7 to +2 percentile points |
1 The descriptive information for this program was obtained from a publicly available source: the program’s website (http://carnegielearning.com/secondary-curricula/, downloaded April 2010). The WWC requests developers to review the program description sections for accuracy from their
perspective. Further verification of the accuracy of the descriptive information for this program is beyond the scope of this review. The literature search
reflects documents publicly available by January 2010.
2 The studies in this report were reviewed using WWC Evidence Standards, Version 2.0 (see the WWC Procedures and Standards Handbook, Chapter III),
as described in protocol Version 2.0.
3 The evidence presented in this report is based on available research. Findings and conclusions may change as new research becomes available.
4 These numbers show the average and range of student-level improvement indices for all findings across the studies.