What Works in Gifted Education Mathematics Study: Impact of Pre-Differentiated and Enriched Curricula on General Education Teachers and Their Students. Research Monograph Series. RM13242

The present study seeks to determine how exposure to pre-differentiated and enriched curricula incorporating educative curriculum materials affects students' achievement as well as teacher and administrator responses to the intervention. A 2-year multi-site cluster randomized control trial study recruited a national sample of 4,530 grade 3 students in 216 classrooms from 62 schools across 17 states. All treatment teachers participated in professional development on differentiated instruction and enrichment practices, as well as specific training in using the components of the three differentiated mathematics units. Treatment and control students completed standardized pretest measures of cognitive abilities and mathematics achievement, as well as a standardized posttest measure of mathematics achievement. Students in the treatment group also completed unit pretests and posttests for each of the three differentiated mathematics units and selected items from the out-of-level grade 4 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Researchers observed treatment and control classrooms to evaluate the fidelity of implementation of the curricular units. Treatment teachers completed logs with their responses to each of the units and participated in focus groups. Administrators completed open-ended questionnaires to assess their reactions to participating in the study. Quantitative results did not show significant differences overall between treatment and control students on the standardized mathematics achievement test after accounting for pretest scores. Qualitative results demonstrated that the treatment teachers and administrators from participating schools responded positively to the curriculum intervention. The educative nature of the intervention curriculum materials in conjunction with the provision of professional development for all participating treatment teachers indicated teacher change and learning in the areas of instructional practices, understanding of how students learn mathematics, and expectations of students. The following are appended: (1) What Works in Gifted Education Study Instruments; (2) Data Source Key; (3) Cohorts I & II Treatment Teacher Focus Group Pseudonyms; (4) Sample Grouping Guide for Differentiated Instructional Groups; and (5) Cohort III Treatment Teacher Focus Group Pseudonyms.