Date of Award

2012

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Mathematics

Abstract

This study compared mathematics achievement in Illinois elementary schools using the Everyday Math and Saxon Math curricula. The Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) was used as the measure of student achievement. Multiple correlation analyses showed that the type of curriculum used was a significant predictor of mathematics achievement at the third and fifth grade levels. Everyday Math was found to support greater student achievement in these grades. When holding other variables constant, Everyday Math schools can be expected to have an average of 2.1% more questions correct on the multiple choice portion of the ISAT than Saxon Math schools at the third grade level. At the fifth grade level, Everyday Math schools are predicted to have an average of 4.3% more questions correct than Saxon Math schools. The type of curriculum used was not a significant predictor at the fourth grade level. Analysis of student achievement by subgroup found that Everyday Math supported significantly greater student achievement than Saxon Math for White students in third and fifth grades, non-Asian minorities in fifth grade, girls in third grade, non low-income students in third grade, and non-IEP students in third grade. Multiple correlation analyses for content strands found that curriculum was a significant predictor for elementary student achievement on each mathematics content strand tested in Illinois. Everyday Math was found to support significantly greater student achievement for each content strand. After analyzing the correlation coefficients for curriculum, schools using Everyday Math were found to have between 2.1% and 3.5% more questions correct on the content strand portions of the ISAT. Though Saxon Math was not found to support significantly greater achievement in any area statistically, average scores for low-income students using Saxon Math were better than those of low-income students using Everyday Math at each grade level. This suggests a potential weakness of the Everyday Math curriculum.

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