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Middle School Math
Overview1
Program Description2
The Cognitive Tutor ® Algebra I curriculum, published by Carnegie Learning, is an approach that combines algebra textbooks with interactive software. The software is developed around an artificial intelligence model that identifies strengths and weaknesses in each individual student’s mastery of mathematical concepts. It then customizes prompts to focus on areas where the student is struggling and sends the student to new problems that address those specific concepts.
Research3
One study of Cognitive Tutor ® Algebra I meets What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) evidence standards. The study included 255 ninth-grade students from three junior high schools in Oklahoma. 4
Based on this study, the WWC considers the extent of evidence for Cognitive Tutor ® Algebra I to be small for math achievement.
Effectiveness
Cognitive Tutor ® Algebra I was found to have potentially positive effects on math achievement.
| Math achievement | |
|---|---|
| Rating of effectiveness | Potentially positive effects |
| Improvement index5 | Average: +15 percentile points |
1 This report has been updated to include reviews of 11 studies that have been released since 2005. A complete list and disposition of all studies reviewed is provided in the references. Additionally, one study that met standards with reservations in the previous version (Shneyderman, 2001) will now be eligible for review as part of the WWC high school math area. (The protocol for the middle school math area was revised to narrow the scope from examining any students in grades 6 to 9 to examining only those students who are attending middle schools or junior high schools. Studies examining students in grade 9 who are attending high school are included in the high school math area.)
2 The descriptive information for this program was obtained from a publicly available source: the program’s website (http://www.carnegielearning.com, downloaded September 2008). The WWC requests developers to review the program description sections for accuracy from their perspective. Further verification of the accuracy of the descriptive information for this program is beyond the scope of this review.
3 The studies in this report were reviewed using WWC Evidence Standards, Version 1.0 (see the WWC Standards).
4 The evidence presented in this report is based on available research. Findings and conclusions may change as new research becomes available.
5 This number shows the average student-level improvement index for all findings across the study.
