Description:

Co-Principal Investigator: Bruce Ferguson

Purpose: Research on the efficacy of comprehensive mathematics curricula and instruction continue to be in short supply. Existing programs have not had a sizable impact on mathematics achievement, so there is a pressing need for innovative, evidence-based approaches for teaching mathematics. The currently study will evaluate the efficacy of a newly developed mathematics curriculum, Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies (JUMP Math), that has promising evidence of its potential impact to improve learning in mathematics.

Project Activities: The researchers will evaluate the efficacy of the JUMP Math curriculum in grades 2, 3, 5, and 6. Fifty elementary schools will be randomly assigned to either the treatment condition (JUMP Math) or the control condition (business-as-usual). During the first year of the study, one grade 2 and one grade 5 teacher within each school will be randomly selected to participate in the study. During the second year of the study, students who were grades 2 and 5 will be followed into grades 3 and 6, respectively, allowing the researchers to measure the effects of JUMP Math curriculum over two years.

Products: The products of this project include evidence of the efficacy of the JUMP Math curriculum for improving the mathematics achievement of elementary school students, and peer-reviewed publications.

Structured Abstract

Setting: The setting for this study includes ethnically and socioeconomically diverse urban elementary schools in Ontario, Canada.

Sample: The sample includes 50 elementary schools with approximately 800 students at grade 2 and 800 students at grade 5. These students will be followed into grades 3 and 6, respectively.

Intervention: JUMP Math is a fully developed curriculum spanning grades kindergarten through 8. The curriculum has a strong emphasis on symbolic math (e.g., numbers, letters, mathematical symbols) and focuses on the mental activity involved in constructing mathematical knowledge. An important hallmark of the JUMP Math curriculum is that math problems are reduced to increasingly smaller steps until students are able to achieve mastery, then the problems are built back up incrementally to meet the curriculum demands. In this way, JUMP Math is ideally suited for differentiated instruction. Extensive practice and assessment of student comprehension are also essential at each step of instruction.

Research Design and Methods: During the first year of the study, 50 elementary schools will be randomly assigned to either the treatment condition (JUMP Math) or the control condition (business-as-usual). Schools will be matched on socioeconomic status data and their most recent regional math and reading assessment scores prior to randomization. Within each school, one grade 2 and one grade 5 teacher will be randomly selected to participate in the study. Teachers in the treatment condition will receive one day of professional development training on the JUMP Math curriculum in the summer and a second day of follow-up training in February. The JUMP Math curriculum will be implemented throughout the school year. During the second year of the study, grades 2 and 5 students will be followed into grades 3 and 6, respectively. Consenting teachers who inherit JUMP Math students and are new to the study will receive the same JUMP Math training given to teachers during the previous year and will implement the JUMP Math Curriculum throughout the school year.

Control Condition: Schools in the control condition will continue to implement their business-as-usual mathematics curriculum and instruction, which is typically the Math Makes Sense curriculum.

Key Measures: Four measures of student math achievement will be collected, including the broad, math-cluster score from the Woodcock-Johnson III, a curriculum-based math measure from the Monitoring Basic Skills Progress Math Kit, students' math course grades, and students' scores on the math section of the regional assessment.

Data Analytic Strategy: A three-level hierarchical linear model of time within students within schools will be used to analyze the impact of the JUMP Math curriculum on students' mathematics outcomes.

Products and Publications

Journal article, monograph, or newsletter

Solomon, T.L., and Mighton, J. (2017). Developing Mathematical Fluency: A Strategy to Help Children Learn Their Multiplication Facts. Perspectives on Language and Literacy, 43 (1): 31–34.

Solomon, T.L., Vasilyeva, M., Huttenlocher, J., and Levine, S.C. (2015). Minding the Gap: Children's Difficulty Conceptualizing Spatial Intervals as Linear Measurement Units. Developmental Psychology , 51 (11): 1564–1573.