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This report updates the previous WWC report on Saxon Middle School Math that was released on the WWC website in December 2004. Since the release of the previous report, the WWC has updated its evidence standards and developed peer-reviewed procedures for addressing certain methodological flaws in original studies, such as mismatch between the unit of assignment and the unit analysis and lack of adjustment for multiple comparisons. These standards and procedures have been applied to studies included in the original review where appropriate. Moreover, seven new studies were identified for this updated report.
Originally developed by John Saxon, currently authored by Stephen Hake, and distributed by Saxon Publishers, an imprint of Harcourt Achieve, Inc. Address: Harcourt Achieve, Attn: Customer Service 5th Floor, 6277 Sea Harbor Dr., Orlando, FL 32887. Email: info@saxonpublishers.com. Web: www.saxonpublishers.com. Telephone: (800) 284-7019.
Saxon Middle School Math's first textbook (Algebra I for ninth grade) was adopted in 1980; Saxon Algebra ½ (eighth grade) was first adopted in 1986. Information about the number and demographics of students, schools, or districts currently using the intervention is not available.
The Saxon Middle School Math curriculum for each grade level consists of 120 daily lessons and 12 activity-based investigations. A daily lesson consists of warm-up activities (10–15 minutes) for building automatic recall of math foundations in the areas of computational skills and facts, number sense and problem solving, introduction to the new concept (5–10 minutes), and distributed practice to strengthen understanding of previously learned concepts (20–30 minutes).
Teachers are responsible for facilitating and mediating the warm-up session, introducing the new concept, and conducting the practice sessions. Teachers introduce the daily concept using manipulatives or representative models accompanied by procedures needed to solve the problem. Teachers are instructed to conduct lessons in sequence, not skip lessons, limit direct group or individual instruction to 10–15 minutes, assign all problems in each problem set, and spend the majority of class time allowing children to do mathematics problems in the problem sets.
Technical assistance includes in-service training and videos, a web-based teacher resource center, answers to specific questions via email, a teacher helpline, resource materials, teachers' resource booklets, and administrators' guides to implementing Saxon Math in the classroom.
The cost of a student edition textbook ranges between $51 and $54, and is available in hard copy or on CD. The Adaptations for Saxon Math Classroom Package ($32) contains a teaching guide, student reference guide, and student materials on CD. This package contains modified parallel support for special education and other students with learning disabilities. The Adaptations for Saxon Math Classroom Package student workbook is $26. A manipulative kit costs $295. The cost of additional materials is specified on the publisher's website.
|Institute of Education Sciences
