Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Programs for Higher Education
Advisor
Donald C. Lueder
Committee Member
Donald D. Gainey
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Committee Member
Claudia Santin
Keywords
achievement, applied dissertation, computation, curriculum change, decimals, elementary schools, fractions, mathematics curriculum, mathematics education, mathematics instruction, math achievement, math skills, measurement geometry, Normal Curve Equivalent (NCEs), numeration, probability, professional development, rural elementary school, Saxon Math Program, standardized testing, student achievement, teacher education, Terra Nova, third grade, third grade teachers, training intervention
Abstract
This applied dissertation implemented a curriculum change in math for third graders in a rural elementary school with a student population of 530. An analysis of the end of grade testing over the past two years indicated that the third graders at this school scored 11.5 Normal Curve Equivalent (NCEs) below the other third graders in the school district.
The intervention implemented the Saxon Math Program, along with an appropriate professional development program designed to strength the math program and to increase third grade students’ math skill development. The intervention focused on training the third grade teachers to use the Saxon Math materials correctly.
The intervention was evaluated by analyzing data from a pre-test-posttest to determine how much students learned about basic math skills during the 2001-2002 school year. The Terra Nova standardized test was also part of the evaluation process. It was used to compare overall math scores in third grade from 2001 and 2002. This allowed the researcher to study achievement with and without the Saxon Math Program.
An analysis of the data indicated that the Saxon Math Program had little impact on improving overall math achievement among third graders. Students did make some improvements in the areas of computation, measurement geometry, and probability. The students made the largest gains in the area of numeration, which involved their ability to work with mixed numbers, decimals, and fractions.