Math Programs Fail to Make the Grade

By Meg McCaffrey -- School Library Journal, 2/1/2005

Only a handful of math software and curriculum programs for middle school students earned a passing grade, according to a recent federal study. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) (www.whatworks.ed.gov) identified only four math programs that met federal standards for increasing student performance: Cognitive Tutor, I CAN Learn Education Systems, Saxon Math, and The Expert Mathematician. Another product, Connected Mathematics Project, met WWC's standards "with reservation."

Part of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), WWC conducted the study to rate the effectiveness of math instructional tools. "The effectiveness of the overwhelming majority of middle school mathematics programs in the United States is unevaluated and unknown," explains Russ Whitehurst, IES's director. Not making the cut doesn't necessarily mean products are ineffective, he says. Rather, it means the studies backing up the products failed to pass WWC's stringent approval process.

The math curriculum study comes in the wake of mixed results for American students in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

According to TIMSS, U.S. eighth graders showed improvement in math and science in 2003 compared to 1995, the first year of the study. However, there was no measurable improvement in those subjects at grade four, according to Patrick Gonzales, education research analyst. Fourth graders scored lower in 2003 than in 1995 compared to 14 other countries surveyed.