WWC review of this study

Longitudinal evaluation of a scale-up model for teaching mathematics with trajectories and technologies.

Sarama, J., Clements, D. H., Wolfe, C. B., & Spitler, M. E. (2012). Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 5(2), 105–135. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ961450

examining

630

Students

, grades

PK-K

Grant Competition

Review Details

Reviewed: February 2018

At least one finding shows moderate evidence of effectiveness

At least one statistically significant positive finding

Meets WWC standards with reservations

For:

Grant Competition (findings for Technology-enhanced, Research-based, Instruction, Assessment, and professional Development (TRIAD))

Using:

Research Design:

Randomized Controlled Trial

Rating:

Meets WWC standards with reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with high attrition, but the analytic intervention and comparison groups satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement.

This review may not reflect the full body of research evidence for this intervention.

Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.

Findings

General Mathematics Achievement outcomes—Statistically significant positive effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index
Research-based Elementary Math Assessment (REMA)	Technology-enhanced, Research-based, Instruction, Assessment, and professional Development (TRIAD) vs. Business as usual	1 Year	This sample compares the Triad Follow Through with the comparison group.; 630 students	53.22	51.61	Yes	13
Show Supplemental Findings
Research-based Elementary Math Assessment (REMA)	Technology-enhanced, Research-based, Instruction, Assessment, and professional Development (TRIAD) vs. Business as usual	1 Year	This sample compares the TRIAD No Follow Through intervention group with the comparison group.; 618 students	52.64	51.61	Yes	9
Research-based Elementary Math Assessment (REMA)	Technology-enhanced, Research-based, Instruction, Assessment, and professional Development (TRIAD) vs. Business as usual	1 Year	This sample compares the two treatment groups: Triad Follow Through students with the Triad No-Follow Through students.; 678 students	53.22	52.64	No	--

Evidence Tier rating based solely on this study. This intervention may achieve a higher tier when combined with the full body of evidence.

Sample Characteristics

Characteristics of study sample as reported by study author.

13% English language learners
Female: 50%
Male: 50%
Urban
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Massachusetts, New York

Race
Black		53%
Other or unknown		19%

Ethnicity
Hispanic		22%
Not Hispanic or Latino		78%

Study Details

Setting

The study was conducted in Buffalo, New York and Boston, Massachusetts in pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten classes in 42 schools in two districts.

Study sample

The sample is evenly distributed by gender, includes 53% African American students, 22% Hispanic Students, and 19% white students. 82% receive a subsidized lunch and 13% are English language learners.

Intervention Group

The intervention condition is Building Blocks web-based professional learning software and TRIAD, a Technology-enchanced, Research-based, Instruction, Assessment, and professional Development. The intervention was administered for two years (from pre-Kindergarten through Kindergarten). There was also a second, supplemental intervention group that received the intervention for one year (only in pre-Kindergarten). TRIAD is a math intervention that combines a curriculum, a software-based teaching tool, and in-person professional development for teachers. The overarching goal of these combined components is to help teachers individualize their teaching to each child’s needs. The follow-through component of the intervention was to educate kindergarten teachers about the learning trajectories of their entering students and methods of building upon the initial intervention received in preschool. The TRIAD curriculum, Building Blocks, is a stand-alone curriculum that includes a software component for children with activities and built-in assessments (information available at: http://www.ubbuildingblocks.org/). The software-based teaching tool, Building Blocks Learning Trajectories, is a resource for teachers to improve their implementation of individualized lesson planning for each student. The in-person professional development components provided hands-on instruction on how to individualize teaching for students and incorporate the Building Blocks and Building Blocks Learning Trajectories components of the intervention. Note, the Building Blocks curriculum was not used during the kindergarten year for the TRIAD-FT intervention. Rather, teachers incorporated the district’s kindergarten curriculum with the other components of TRIAD.

Comparison Group

The comparison condition continued with the business-as-usual professional development and curriculum.

Support for implementation

The TRIAD kindergarten teachers were trained for 32 hours over seven sessions throughout the year. Participation for all professional development hours ranged from 16% to 100% with a mean of 63%. Staff also met with pre-K and K staff at each school for those with FT in order to facilitate sharing information. Training of pre-K teachers focused on the introduction of the new curriculum, but for K teachers the focus was on formative assessment. Teachers studied trajectories using Building Blocks Learning Trajectories (BBLT).