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Impact of Enhanced Anchored Instruction in Inclusive Math Classrooms
Bottge, Brian A.; Toland, Michael D.; Gassaway, Linda; Butler, Mark; Choo, Sam; Griffen, Ann Katherine; Ma, Xin (2015). Exceptional Children, v81 n2 p158-175. Retrieved from: https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1049291
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examining471Students, grades6-8
Single Study Review
Review Details
Reviewed: March 2020
- Single Study Review (findings for Enhanced Anchored Instruction )
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Meets WWC standards with reservations because it is a compromised cluster randomized controlled trial, but it satisfies the baseline equivalence requirement for the individuals in the analytic intervention and comparison groups.
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
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Problem Solving Test |
Enhanced Anchored Instruction vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Aggregated sample;
|
24.77 |
21.85 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Problem Solving Test |
Enhanced Anchored Instruction vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with disabilities in math;
|
22.64 |
18.66 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Problem Solving Test |
Enhanced Anchored Instruction vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students without disabilities in math;
|
25.64 |
23.13 |
No |
-- | ||
|
Outcome measure |
Comparison | Period | Sample |
Intervention mean |
Comparison mean |
Significant? |
Improvement index |
Evidence tier |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Fractions Computation Test |
Enhanced Anchored Instruction vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students with disabilities in math;
|
23.13 |
13.48 |
Yes |
|
|
|
|
Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS): Computation Fraction Subset |
Enhanced Anchored Instruction vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Aggregated sample;
|
5.99 |
5.43 |
No |
-- | ||
| Show Supplemental Findings | |||||||||
|
Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS): Computation Fraction Subset |
Enhanced Anchored Instruction vs. Business as usual |
0 Days |
Students without disabilities in math;
|
6.13 |
5.53 |
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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Female: 39%
Male: 61% -
Rural, Urban
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Kentucky
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Race Asian 2% Black 18% Other or unknown 7% White 74% -
Ethnicity Hispanic 5% Not Hispanic or Latino 95%
Study Details
Setting
The study takes place in middle school math classrooms in urban and rural schools in Kentucky.
Study sample
The aggregate student sample, including those with and without disabilities, was 61 percent male and 26 percent non-white. About 85 percent of the students were in grade seven, with the rest in grades six and eight.
Intervention Group
Participating classrooms in intervention schools implemented the enhanced anchored instruction (EAI) curriculum, an instructional method developed for improving the computation and problem solving skills of middle school students with disabilities in math. The intervention involved interactive lessons with computers, anchored problems displayed through video, and applied projects that were hands on, using a mix of explicit instruction and problem solving activities. The intervention consisted of five units. The first unit, Fractions at Work, was a series of computer modules that helped build competence with rational numbers. The second unit, Fraction of the Cost, was a computer-based exercise where students managed available funds and materials in order to build a skateboard ramp. The third unit was a hovercraft project, a hands on activity where students designed and built rollover cages for a hovercraft. The fourth unit, Kim's Komet, was a video episode that required students to use time and distance to calculate speed. The fifth unit was a grand pentathlon during which students competed in a pentathlon of events and graphed times and distances from the event results and used them to calculate speed.
Comparison Group
The comparison group did not receive any services and continued instruction using the usual curricula. The curricula used in comparison group classrooms were aligned with academic standards in Kentucky and focused on similar objectives to those found in the intervention program.
Support for implementation
Teachers in the intervention group received two days of professional development from a teacher who had multiple years of experience using the Enhanced Anchored Instruction curriculum. This 14-hour summer workshop was attended by pairs of math and special education teachers from the intervention schools. Parts of the training were also available on a secure password protected website for teachers in the intervention group to review during the school year after the training had been completed.
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.
An outcome is the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are attained as a result of an activity. An outcome measures is an instrument, device, or method that provides data on the outcome.
A finding that is included in the effectiveness rating. Excluded findings may include subgroups and subscales.
The sample on which the analysis was conducted.
The group to which the intervention group is compared, which may include a different intervention, business as usual, or no services.
The timing of the post-intervention outcome measure.
The number of students included in the analysis.
The mean score of students in the intervention group.
The mean score of students in the comparison group.
The WWC considers a finding to be statistically significant if the likelihood that the finding is due to chance alone, rather than a real difference, is less than five percent.
The WWC reviews studies for WWC products, Department of Education grant competitions, and IES performance measures.
The name and version of the document used to guide the review of the study.
The version of the WWC design standards used to guide the review of the study.
The result of the WWC assessment of the study. The rating is based on the strength of evidence of the effectiveness of the intervention. Studies are given a rating of Meets WWC Design Standards without Reservations, Meets WWC Design Standards with Reservations, or >Does Not Meet WWC Design Standards.
A related publication that was reviewed alongside the main study of interest.
Study findings for this report.
Based on the direction, magnitude, and statistical significance of the findings within a domain, the WWC characterizes the findings from a study as one of the following: statistically significant positive effects, substantively important positive effects, indeterminate effects, substantively important negative effects, and statistically significant negative effects. For more, please see the WWC Handbook.
The WWC may review studies for multiple purposes, including different reports and re-reviews using updated standards. Each WWC review of this study is listed in the dropdown. Details on any review may be accessed by making a selection from the drop down list.
Tier 1 Strong indicates strong evidence of effectiveness,
Tier 2 Moderate indicates moderate evidence of effectiveness, and
Tier 3 Promising indicates promising evidence of effectiveness,
as defined in the
non-regulatory guidance for ESSA
and the regulations for ED discretionary grants (EDGAR Part 77).