The effectiveness of two mathematical instructional programs on the mathematics growth of eighth grade students

by Baldree, Carolyn Louise

The purpose of this study was to determine if there would be a significant difference in the achievement levels of two groups of eighth grade students when one group received instruction from a Saxon Mathematics Program, and the other group received instruction from a Pre-Algebra Program. Four schools in Georgia participated in the study. Marietta Middle School in Marietta City and Warner Robbins Middle School in Houston County received the Saxon Mathematics Program, and Smitha Middle School in Cobb County and Chestnut Log Middle School in Douglas County received the Pre- Algebra Program. The student sample consisted of 994 eighth grade students in the four middle schools. The independent variable was the instructional approach. The dependent variables were the student scores of the subtest of the Eighth Grade Iowa Test of Basic Skills – Mathematics Total, Concepts and Estimation, Problems and Data Interpretation, and Computation – with the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test (CRCT) serving as the covariate. The analysis of covariance was used to determine statistical significance of the main effects – instructional approach, gender, and ethnicity/race – and the interactions between and among instruction, gender, ethnicity/race. The results of this study showed that non-white male and white female students benefited the most from the Saxon Mathematics Program in all four dependent variables – Mathematics Total, Concepts and Estimation, Problems and Data Interpretation, and Computation. The white male benefited from the Saxon Mathematics Program in three of the subtests – Mathematics Total, Concepts and Estimation, and Computation- and scored higher in Problems and Data Interpretation using the Pre-Algebra Program. The nonwhite female scored higher using the Pre-Algebra Program on three of the subtests- Mathematics Total, Concepts and Estimation, and Problems and Data Interpretation. All students scored higher on the Computation Subtest using the Saxon Mathematics Program.