Structured Abstract
Setting
The evaluation is being conducted in eight high schools in the Baltimore County Public School District, an urban fringe district that serves students from a wide range of racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds.
Sample
The participants are approximately 2,000 high school students and 16 math teachers.
Cognitive Tutor Geometry is designed to provide individualized instruction to address students' specific needs. The curriculum includes challenging problems that reflect real-world situations and provide opportunities for students to progress from concrete to abstract thinking. Students spend 40 percent of their class time using individualized tutorial software built on a detailed computational model of student thinking, and 60 percent of class time will be devoted to teacher-guided group work and problem solving. As part of implementation, teachers receive four days of teacher training. The curriculum has shown evidence of promise from quasi-experimental studies.
Research design and methods
The study is a randomized controlled trial in which two teachers in each participating high school will teach geometry concurrently during two periods per day. One teacher is randomly assigned to teach Cognitive Tutor Geometry during the earlier period, and the other teacher uses the school's existing geometry curriculum. During the later period, the teachers switch curricula. For both periods, students enrolled in geometry are randomly assigned to experimental or control classes. The study will run for 2 years, using the same teachers to the extent possible, so as to capture any improvements in implementation after a year of experience with the curriculum.
Control condition
Students in the control group receive their high school's usual geometry instruction.
Key measures
Pre- and post-test data will be collected on student performance on the Maryland State Department of Education Geometry Assessment. In addition, student survey data will be collected on other outcomes that may influence long-term student achievement, such as mathematics confidence and attitudes, and career plans. Data will be collected on student course-taking. The fidelity of implementation will be monitored using a combination of classroom observations, teacher interviews, and a collection of classroom artifacts including lesson plans, logs, and teacher-developed assessments.
Data analytic strategy
The analysis strategy uses hierarchical linear models to estimate the impact of Cognitive Tutor Geometry on test scores in geometry and generalized mixed models to estimate the impact on dichotomous variables including course taking, attitudes, and career plans.
People and institutions involved
IES program contact(s)
Products and publications
WWC review:
Pane, J. F., McCaffrey, D. F., Slaughter, M. E., Steele, J. L., & Ikemoto, G. S. (2010). An experiment to evaluate the efficacy of Cognitive Tutor Geometry. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 3(3), 254-281. [WWC Review]
Publications:
ERIC Citations: Find available citations in ERIC for this award here.
Journal articles
Ikemoto, G. S., Steele, J. L., & Pane, J. F. (2016). Poor implementation of learner-centered practices: A cautionary tale. Teachers College Record, 118(13), 1-34.
Pane, J. F., McCaffrey, D. F., Slaughter, M. E., Steele, J. L., & Ikemoto, G. S. (2010). An experiment to evaluate the efficacy of Cognitive Tutor Geometry. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 3(3), 254-281.
Questions about this project?
To answer additional questions about this project or provide feedback, please contact the program officer.
