Only a small number of the nation's middle school mathematics curricula have scientific evidence of effectiveness, according to a report released today by the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC), a part of the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences. The report represents one of the first efforts by the Department of Education to inform the nation's parents, educators and policymakers of the most effective school programs and curricula—as judged by scientific evidence.

An exhaustive review of more than 800 studies of math programs in grades six through nine identified 11 evaluations that met the Department's new standards of evidence, which call for randomized trials in which exposure to a curriculum is determined through a lottery or well-designed comparisons in which students in a control group are statistically matched against students using the curriculum under study. The 11 studies examined five commercial mathematics programs. Two of those programs were associated with scientific evidence of effectiveness.

"For too long education decision-makers have struggled to identify the most effective approaches to help their students," said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "We already have some research on what works in reading and today's report on middle school mathematics programs is a giant step toward understanding what works in mathematics as well."

Clearinghouse officials stressed that the absence of scientific evidence of effectiveness does not mean that a curriculum is ineffective. Rather, it means that how well the curriculum works is unknown. The Department does not endorse curricula.

"The effectiveness of the overwhelming majority of middle school mathematics programs in the United States is unevaluated and unknown," said Grover "Russ" Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences.

Over time the WWC will provide a large body of credible evidence of what works in many areas of concern to educators. Future clearinghouse reviews, to be released in the coming months, will focus on beginning reading and character education.

The What Works Clearinghouse at http://whatworks.ed.gov was established in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to provide educators, policy-makers, researchers and the public with a central and trusted source of scientific evidence of what works in education. The clearinghouse is administered through a contract to a joint venture of the American Institutes for Research and the Campbell Collaboration.

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