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Evaluation Evidence
What do evaluation studies say about the effectiveness of the Core-Plus Mathematics Project curriculum?
There is a large and growing body of rigorous research documenting the effectiveness of the CPMP curriculum. Based on evidence from nationally standardized tests (ITED, SAT, ACT, NAEP), course-specific tests, researcher-developed tests, interviews, and surveys, the CPMP curriculum has been shown to enhance students' mathematical achievement and attitudes toward mathematics.
Quantitative
Thinking
CPMP students outperform comparison students on the mathematics
subtest of the nationally standardized Iowa Tests of Educational
Development ITED-Q.
Conceptual
Understanding
CPMP students demonstrate better conceptual understanding than students
in more traditional curricula.
Problem
Solving Ability
CPMP students demonstrate better problem solving ability than comparison
students.
Applications
and Mathematical Modeling
CPMP students are better able to apply mathematics than students
in more traditional curricula.
Algebraic
Reasoning
CPMP students perform better on tasks of algebraic reasoning than
comparison students.
Algebraic
Procedural Skills
This is the one area for which field-test research indicates mixed
results. On some evaluation tests, CPMP students do as well or better,
on others they do less well than comparison students. As part of
the curriculum development process, revisions have been made to
strengthen students' algebraic skills. The final and published version
of the Core-Plus Mathematics curriculum maintains the well-documented
effectiveness of the curriculum, while strengthening students' algebraic
procedural skills.
Important
Mathematics in Addition to Algebra and Geometry
CPMP students perform well on mathematical tasks involving probability,
statistics, and discrete mathematics.
National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)
CPMP students scored well above national norms on a test comprised
of released items from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Student
Perceptions and Attitudes
CPMP students have better attitudes and perceptions about mathematics
than students in more traditional curricula.
College
Entrance Exams - SAT and ACT
CPMP students do as well as, or better than, comparable students
in more traditional curricula on the SAT and ACT college entrance
exams.
Performance
on College Math Placement Tests
On a mathematics department placement test used at a major midwestern
university, CPMP students performed as well as students in traditional
precalculus courses on basic algebra and advanced algebra subtests,
and they performed better on the calculus readiness subtest.
Performance
in College Mathematics Courses
CPMP students completing the four-year curriculum perform as well
as, or better than, comparable students in a more traditional curriculum
in college mathematics courses at the calculus level and above.
The above results are further elaborated in
- "The Core-Plus Mathematics Project: Perspectives and student achievement," appearing
in S. Senk and D. Thompson (Eds.), Standards-Oriented School Mathematics
Curricula: What Are They? What Do Students Learn? pp. 311-344.
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.,
and in two research papers,
- "Effects
of Standards-based mathematics education: a study of the Core-Plus
Mathematics Project algebra and functions strand," appearing
in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education,
Vol. 31, No. 3 (2000), and
- "Responding to calls for
change in high school mathematics: Implications for collegiate mathematics," appearing in the February
2003 issue of the American Mathematical Monthly.
For more information on field-test evaluation evidence, see the Evaluation page and the annotated list of Research Publications. For reports from schools using the published Core-Plus Mathematics program, see School Reports.