Curriculum and Implementation Effects on High-School Students’ Mathematics Learning From Two Curricula Content Organizations

• In Event: Large-Scale Studies in Mathematics Education

Abstract

This curriculum research examined the effect of two types of mathematics content organization on high school students’ mathematics learning while taking account of curriculum implementation and student prior learning. The study involved 2161 students in 10 schools in 6 school districts in 5 states. Roughly one-half of the students studied from the integrated content curriculum (Course 1) and one-half studied from the subject-specific content curriculum (Algebra 1). Using hierarchical linear modeling with three levels, we found that students who studied from the integrated curriculum were significantly advantaged over those students who studied from a subject-specific curriculum on all three of our end-of-year student outcome measures. Significant moderating factors on some student learning measures were Opportunity to Learn and Teacher Experience.

Authors

• Douglas A. Grouws, University of Missouri

• James E. Tarr, University of Missouri - Columbia

• Oscar Chavez, The University of Texas - San Antonio

• Victor Soria, University of Missouri

• Rukiye Didem Taylan, University of Missouri

• Ruthmae Sears, University of South Florida