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RESEARCH UPDATE
Clark County School District
Nevada
Early Effects of MATH 180 on
Academic Achievement
PROFILE
District: Clark County School District
Evaluation Period: 2014–2015 school year
Grades: 6–8
Model: 50- to 55-minute sessions, four–five times a week
Assessments: M
ATH 180 software progress,
HMH Math Inventory
Participants: N=178
DISTRICT CHARACTERISTICS
The Clark County School District is the fifth-largest school
district in the United States. Incorporating Las Vegas
and surrounding communities, the district includes over
300,000 students. In the 2012–2013 school year, 43.4%
of students were identified as Hispanic, 30.2% identified as
Caucasian, 12% as African American, 6.6% Asian, and 7.8%
other. More than 16% of students in the district are English
Language Learners.
OVERVIEW
Implementation Model
MATH 180 is an intervention program for middle school
students struggling with the foundational mathematics skills
they need to build to be successful with algebra. MATH 180
consists of 2 courses, each with 9 instructional blocks.
The current study examines the efficacy of Course I,
which focuses on key foundational concepts, such as
multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, and real
numbers. The program has both teacher-led instruction
and a software component. MATH 180 classes are 45–50
minutes long and meet five days a week. Students spend
the first five minutes of class time working on and then
discussing a Do Now problem. Next, students are divided
into two groups. One group receives approximately 20
minutes of instruction directly from their teacher while the
other group works through instruction at their own pace on
the MATH 180 software. After about 20 minutes, the two
groups switch. Class size can range but should not exceed
20 students per class.
Four middle schools in the district participated in the
study. Two schools were assigned as the non-MATH 180
(control) schools and two schools served as the
MATH 180 (treatment) group. In the treatment schools,
MATH 180 replaced the previous mathematics intervention
program. The non-MATH 180 schools continued providing
mathematics intervention as they had previously.
Specifically, the non-MATH 180 schools used ALEKS
or First in Math for mathematics intervention. At both
the non-MATH 180 and the MATH 180 schools, the
mathematics intervention class was taught in addition to
the students’ core grade-level math class. Teachers at the
treatment schools received monthly coaching in
MATH 180 from Math Solutions coaches.
Participants
Students were in Grades 6–8 during the 2014–2015
school year. All participants were selected by their
school as being in need of mathematics intervention.
The treatment group consisted of 97 students from two
schools who used MATH 180 for one school year. Thirtyfive percent of MATH 180 participants were female and
65% of participants were male. Forty percent of
MATH 180 students were Caucasian, 30% Hispanic,
12% African American, 13% multiracial, 3% Asian, and
1
1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. The comparison group
consisted of 90 students from two schools who used the
mathematics intervention program that the school had
previously used; ALEKS or First in Math. Forty-six percent of
students in the comparison group were female and 54%
were male. Fourteen percent of the comparison students
were Caucasian, 48% Hispanic, 23% African American,
11% multiracial, 2% Asian, and 1% Native Hawaiian/Pacific
Islander. For all students, the mathematics intervention class
was in addition to their daily grade-level mathematics course.
MEASURES
MATH 180 Progress
The MATH 180 software program records students’ progress
and time spent on the program. There are several zones
within the software which include the Explore Zone, Learn
Zone, Success Zone, and Brain Arcade. Much of the time
spent in the program tends to be in the Learn Zone where
students independently and actively practice and master
math concepts. The program is organized into 9 blocks. Each
block contains 3 topics and each topic contains 2–3 lessons.
Students complete these lessons along with simulations in
the Explore Zone, games in the Brain Arcade, and a gamebased assessment at the end of each block called the
Success Zone. The software records students’ performance in
addition to time spent on each lesson and in each area of the
program. All of this information is captured in SAM Central for
the teacher and district leaders to review.
HMH Math Inventory
HMH Math Inventory is a computer adaptive test (CAT) for
levels K–Algebra II. During the 30- to 50-minute assessment,
students encounter 25 to 45 questions. The program delivers
questions targeted to the student’s current achievement level
and bases the delivery of the next question on his or her
response, eventually narrowing down to a final estimate of
the student’s level of math achievement. The Math Inventory
scores are given as Quantile measures (Q) and can be used to
determine whether MATH 180 is the appropriate intervention
program for a student. It can also be used to inform instruction
and help teachers understand how much students have
grown since previous administrations of the test. The Math
Inventory can be used separately from MATH 180 but is also
included with the program. Students in this study completed
two administrations (pre and post) of The Math Inventory
assessment. The mean number of days between tests was
202 and 210 for the MATH 180 and non-MATH 180 students,
respectively.
RESULTS
MATH 180 Progress
The MATH 180 software tracks student progress and completion.
Students in this study participated in 23 to 123 sessions of
MATH 180. On average, students participated in 75 sessions
of MATH 180. Over the course of the 2014–2015 school year
during these sessions, students spent an average of nearly 23
hours on the MATH 180 software. Students spent most of this
time, nearly 14 hours, in the Learn Zone. In comparison, on
average, students spent around 3 hours and 45 minutes in the
Brain Arcade, 3 hours in the Success Zone, and nearly 2-and-ahalf hours in the Explore Zone.
Each of the 9 blocks of software instruction contains 3 topics.
Figure 1.
Change in Math Inventory scores over the school year
Non-MATH 180
MATH 180
MATH 180 (n=87)
Non-MATH 180 (n=91)
700
Quantiles
600
587
500
400
463
482
447
300
200
100
0
Fall
Spring
2
Students in this study completed between 3 and 27 topics,
meaning that some students completed 1 block of software
instruction and others finished all 9 blocks of instruction.
Six students completed all 9 blocks of MATH 180 software
instruction. Just over half of all students (53.9%) completed
13 topics, meaning that most students were about halfway
through the software instruction when the school year ended.
HMH Math Inventory Results
Students in both the MATH 180 and non-MATH 180 groups
had similar starting scores on the The Math Inventory
assessment, which indicates they were similar with respect
to their prior math achievement. MATH 180 students
achieved an average score of 463 Quantile measures and
non-MATH 180 students an average score of 447 Quantile
measures in the fall (See Figure 1). This difference was not
statistically significant. After using MATH 180 for one school
year, students achieved an average spring score of 587 for an
average growth of 124Q. Students from the non-MATH 180
group who used a different intervention program obtained an
average spring score of 482 for an average growth of 35Q. The
difference in growth was statistically significant with a power
of .45.
Growth by Progress
In order for an intervention program to have some effect, there
is an expectation that students actually use the program.
As described above, there was a significant amount of
variability in terms of progress students made in the software
component of the program. In order to investigate the effect
of program progress, the sample of MATH 180 students was
divided into two relatively equal groups based on the number
of topics completed by this group of students. The first group,
referred to as low progress, represented those that completed
less than half the average number of topics (fewer than
13 topics). The second group, referred to as high progress,
completed at least half the average number of software
topics (13 or more topics). Figure 2 summarizes the growth
for the students in each of these two conditions. Student
who completed the average number of topics or greater
gained an average of 192 Quantile measures as compared
to only 51 Quantile measures for students who completed
less than half the average number of topics. This difference
was statistically significant.
CONCLUSION
Both groups of students attended school in the same district
and were roughly equivalent in terms of their prior levels of
math achievement. Although it is difficult to attribute a change
in levels of academic achievement to one program, students
who used MATH 180 tended to experience significantly
greater growth on The Math Inventory over students who were
enrolled in different mathematics intervention programs.
The MATH 180 students who participated in this study
spent most of their software time in the Learn Zone, working
through MATH 180 lessons. This is fairly typical for the
program. In terms of progress through the software, students
also completed an average of 13 topics. Although this is
roughly half the content in the software, students were able
to derive some benefit from that exposure. When outcomes
were investigated by relative level of software completion,
the influence of exposure to the program became more
evident. Students who completed a greater number of topics
were more likely to demonstrate significantly greater growth.
Therefore, it is important to account for the variability in
program progress or implementation when viewing outcomes
attributed to the program.
Figure 2.
Change in Math Inventory scores by software usage
Low Progress
High Progress
Changes in Quantiles
250
200
192
150
100
50
0
51
Low Progress
(n=42)
High Progress
(n=45)
3
RESEARCH UPDATE
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) is committed to developing innovative educational programs that are grounded in
evidence and efficacy. We collaborate with school districts and third-party research organizations to conduct research that
provides information to help improve educational outcomes for students, teachers, and leaders at the classroom, school, and
district levels. We believe strongly in a mixed-methods approach to our research, an approach that provides meaningful and
contextualized information and results. For more information, please visit: hmhco.com/MATH180.
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