Testing the Efficacy of a Kindergarten Mathematics Intervention by Small Group Size [ROOTS (2 students per group) vs. ROOTS (5 students per group)]
Clarke, Ben; Doabler, Christian T.; Kosty, Derek; Kurtz Nelson, Evangeline; Smolkowski, Keith; Fien, Hank; Turtura, Jessica (2017). AERA Open, v3 n2. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1194151
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examining415Students
Practice Guide
Review Details
Reviewed: January 2023
- Practice Guide (findings for ROOTS)
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards without reservations because it is a randomized controlled trial with low attrition.
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
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Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Early Numeracy Curriculum-Based Measures (EN-CBM): Oral Counting (OC) |
ROOTS vs. Intervention |
0 Days |
ROOTS two-student group vs. ROOTS five-student group;
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46.78 |
44.82 |
No |
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|
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ROOTS Assessment of Early Numeracy Skills (RAENS) |
ROOTS vs. Intervention |
0 Days |
ROOTS two-student group vs. ROOTS five-student group;
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23.34 |
23.19 |
No |
-- | |
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Number Sense Brief (NSB) |
ROOTS vs. Intervention |
0 Days |
ROOTS two-student group vs. ROOTS five-student group;
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19.23 |
19.23 |
No |
-- | |
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Assessing Student Proficiency in Early Number Sense (ASPENS) |
ROOTS vs. Intervention |
0 Days |
ROOTS two-student group vs. ROOTS five-student group;
|
74.19 |
79.00 |
No |
|
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Stanford Early School Achievement Test (SESAT) |
ROOTS vs. Intervention |
0 Days |
ROOTS two-student group vs. ROOTS five-student group;
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453.68 |
455.12 |
No |
-- | ||
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Test of Early Mathematics Ability (TEMA-3) |
ROOTS vs. Intervention |
0 Days |
ROOTS two-student group vs. ROOTS five-student group;
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26.47 |
26.56 |
No |
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| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
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Stanford Achievement Test- Tenth Edition (SAT-10): Math |
ROOTS vs. Intervention |
10 Months |
ROOTS two-student group vs. ROOTS five-student group;
|
494.91 |
497.20 |
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.
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24% English language learners -
Female: 48%
Male: 52% -
Rural, Suburban, Urban
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Oregon
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Race Asian 3% Black 3% Native American 3% Other or unknown 36% Pacific Islander 1% White 54% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 26% Not Hispanic or Latino 74%
Study Details
Setting
The study comprises kindergarten students at risk for mathematical difficulties (MD) from 69 classrooms of 14 elementary schools in four Oregon school districts. Participating students screened and identified as eligible for the ROOTS intervention (and thus at risk for mathematics difficulties) were randomly assigned to three groups: (i) a two-student ROOTS intervention group (2:1); (ii) a five-student ROOTS intervention group (5:1); or (iii) a no-treatment comparison condition. This OSRG includes the two ROOTS samples. Students assigned to the ROOTS groups received the ROOTS curriculum instruction in small groups outside of their core whole-class mathematics instruction. The study occurred over two academic years. Though each year represented a separate sample, in the study the samples from each year were combined. (pp. 1, 4, 5)
Study sample
Within the randomization sample of participating students in Contrast 1 (ROOTS two-student group vs. ROOTS five-student group- review ID 1904995), 52 percent were male, 48 percent were female, 3 percent were Black, 54 percent were White, 3 percent were American Indian/Alaskan Native, 3 percent were Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, 3 percent were Asian, 36 percent were another race, 26 percent were Hispanic, 24 percent had limited English proficiency, and 10 percent were eligible for special education. (Table 1, page 5)
Intervention Group
For the contrast covered in this SRG (Contrast 1: ROOTS two-student group vs. ROOTS five-student group- review ID 1904995), the two-student ROOTS intervention group is considered the intervention condition and the five-student ROOTS intervention group is considered the comparison condition. The ROOTS curriculum is a Tier 2 kindergarten program consisting of 50 lessons designed to build students’ whole number proficiency. ROOTS instruction emphasizes concepts from the Counting & Cardinality and Operations & Algebraic Thinking domains of the CCSS for mathematics (CCSS Initiative, 2010) to promote robust whole number sense for students struggling in math. In the study, ROOTS instruction began in late fall and ended in the spring of each study year. The ROOTS program instruction occurred at times outside core whole-class instruction. Participating students in both ROOTS conditions received the ROOTS curriculum in 20-minutes small group sessions five days per week for approximately 10 weeks. Two students comprised each small group in the ROOTS two-student group condition. (pp. 4, 5)
Comparison Group
The ROOTS five-student group condition (representing the comparison group in this SRG entry- review ID 1904995) was identical to the ROOTS two-student group condition with the exception that five students comprised each small group in the ROOTS five-student group condition. (pp. 4, 5)
Support for implementation
Interventionists participated in two five-hour professional development workshops conducted by project staff. The first workshop covered ROOTS lessons 1-15, and the second workshop covered lessons 26-50. Interventionists also received between two and four coaching visits from ROOTS coaches during intervention implementation. The coaching visits consisted of direct observations of lesson delivery, and feedback on instructional quality and fidelity of intervention implementation. (p. 5)
Additional Sources
In the case of multiple manuscripts that report on one study, the WWC selects one manuscript as the primary citation and lists other manuscripts that describe the study as additional sources.
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Shanley, Lina; Clarke, Ben; Doabler, Christian T.; Kurtz-Nelson, Evangeline; Fien, Hank. (2017). Early Number Skills Gains and Mathematics Achievement: Intervening to Establish Successful Early Mathematics Trajectories. Journal of Special Education v51 n3 p177-188.
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Clarke, Ben; Doabler, Christian T.; Smolkowski, Keith; Kurtz-Nelson, Evangeline; Fien, Hank; Baker, Scott K.; Kosty, Derek. (2016). Testing the Immediate and Long-Term Efficacy of a Tier 2 Kindergarten Mathematics Intervention.
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Clarke, Ben; Doabler, Christian T.; Smolkowski, Keith; Turtura, Jessica; Kosty, Derek; Kurtz-Nelson, Evangeline; Fien, Hank; Baker, Scott K. (2019). Exploring the Relationship between Initial Mathematics Skill and a Kindergarten Mathematics Intervention. Exceptional Children, v85 n2 p129-146.
An indicator of the effect of the intervention, the improvement index can be interpreted as the expected change in percentile rank for an average comparison group student if that student had received the intervention.
For more, please see the WWC Glossary entry for improvement index.
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