Setting
The treatment group schools came from one suburban school district in Texas. Comparison schools came from other school districts in Texas with similar populations of students.
Study sample
The analysis sample included 992 students (482 treatment, 510 comparison) in the 2001/02 grade 8 cohort from four middle schools (two treatment and two comparison). Of the student sample, 21% qualified for free or reduced-price lunch (21% treatment, 20% comparison), 4% were limited English proficient (4% treatment, 4% comparison), 7% African-American (9% treatment, 6% comparison), 3% Asian (2% treatment, 3% comparison), 19% Hispanic (19% treatment, 20% comparison), 0% Native American (0% treatment, 0% comparison), and 70% were White (69% treatment, 71% comparison). Information about attrition was provided only at the level of assignment. Of the 11 elementary and middle schools originally selected as comparison schools, three schools did not provide appropriate grade-level test score data and were replaced (it is unknown whether any of these replaced schools were middle schools). Students in the analysis sample remained in the same school and had matched data available for three consecutive years (1999/2000–2001/02).
Intervention Group
In 2000/01, schools in the treatment group implemented School Renaissance, a comprehensive school reform model that includes Accelerated Math. Accelerated Math is a progress-monitoring software program that tracks students’ daily activities, provides immediate feedback to students and teachers, alerts teachers to students struggling with certain assignments, and monitors achievement. Teachers can use the program with their existing math curriculum. Students in the treatment group experienced two years of the Accelerated Math program.
Comparison Group
Schools in the comparison condition were from Texas school districts that had not implemented the full School Renaissance package. However, it is still possible that some elements of Accelerated Math were present in the comparison schools.
Outcome descriptions
The study used the Texas Learning Index (TLI) math scores (based on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills); for the grade 8 cohort, program comparisons were based on
average transformed scores for grades 7 and 8 from 2001 and 2002. The TLI has a common interpretation across grades: a score of 70 or above indicates performance
at or above grade-level expectations. A student receiving the same score at consecutive grade levels made one year of academic progress. For a more detailed description
of these outcome measures, see Appendix A2.
Support for implementation
A Renaissance coach conducts an initial training seminar and provides ongoing assistance to teachers.