Study: 89847

Single Study Review

Review Details

Reviewed: July 2021

No statistically significant positive
findings

Meets WWC standards with reservations

For:

Single Study Review (findings for MyTeachingPartner-Math/Science)

Using:

Rating:

Meets WWC standards with reservations because it is a cluster randomized controlled trial with high cluster-level 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

Life sciences outcomes—Indeterminate effect found for the domain
Outcome measure	Comparison	Period	Sample	Intervention mean	Comparison mean	Significant?	Improvement index	Evidence tier
Researcher-developed life sciences assessment	MyTeachingPartner-Math/Science vs. Business as usual	0 Days	Full sample; 211 students	42.87	43.55	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.

Female: 49%
Male: 51%
Urban
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District of Columbia, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia

Race
Black		67%
Other or unknown		8%
White		25%

Study Details

Setting

The study took place in 14 full-day preschools in a single school district in a large, Mid-Atlantic city.

Study sample

A total of 211 preschool students were included in the study. The 211 students were in 24 classrooms in 14 schools. Approximately 10 students in each classroom were randomly chosen to participate in the study. Approximately half of the students were male; and 67% were Black, 25% were White, and 8% were another race. The ethnicity of the students in the sample is not reported. English learners and students with Individualized Education Programs were excluded from the study. The researchers randomly assigned eight schools to the intervention group and eight schools to the comparison group. Two schools left the study from the comparison group after random assignment.

Intervention Group

MyTeachingPartner-Math and Science are curricula for prekindergarten instruction that make use of student-centered, structured inquiry in math and science. Topics addressed in the curricula include numbers, operations, geometry, measurement, life science, earth science, and physical science. Teachers were expected to offer two activities each week from the MyTeachingPartner-Math curriculum and two activities from the Science curriculum. Each activity had an expected class duration of 15-20 minutes. Each activity had a four-step inquiry format, and teachers were provided with an activity script, questions, adaptations, and extensions for each activity. These activities were offered for 33 weeks across the school year. Activities were offered in whole-class or small-group format with additional weekly activity centers alternating between a math center and a science center each week. Classroom activities were supplemented with activity manipulatives and with preschool-appropriate books that highlighted math and science topics. The study did not describe whether teachers implemented all the activities for the planned amount of time.

Comparison Group

Students in the comparison group received business-as-usual preschool instruction in math and science, which was the HighScope preschool curriculum. Other math and science activities in classrooms were informed by the state preschool learning standards.

Support for implementation

Teachers in the intervention condition received materials that provided guidance on how to implement each activity. These materials were embedded within the curriculum and included support for asking open-ended questions, activity scripts, activity extensions, and strategies to differentiate activities for different student ability levels.

"MyTeachingPartner--Math/Science" Pre-Kindergarten Curricula and Teacher Supports: Associations with Children's Mathematics and Science Learning [MTP-M/S basic vs. business-as-usual control ]