Research Basis of EM - page 4
The Everyday Mathematics Writing Process: Research-Guided Revision
The principles above guided the initial drafting of the Everyday Mathematics materials, which began with Kindergarten in the mid-1980s. The draft materials were written and field-tested one grade at a time. During the field tests, UCSMP staff gathered detailed critiques of the materials from the field test teachers and also carried out rigorous formative evaluation studies (Carroll, 1996a, 1995b, Carroll & Porter, 1994; Hedges, Stodolsky, & Mathison, 1987). The draft materials were revised on the basis of the evaluation studies and teacher feedback, and were commercially published. Finally, extensive summative evaluations of the published materials were carried out by UCSMP and by a group at Northwestern University, often focusing on issues identified as problematic during the field test (Arron, 1993; Carroll, 2000a, 2000b, 1999, 1998a, 1998b, 1997, 1996b, 1996c, 1996d, 1995a, 1993; Carroll & Fuson, 1998a, 1998b; Carroll, Fuson, & Diamond, 2000; Carroll & Isaacs, in press; Carroll & Porter, 1998, 1997; Ding, 1997; Drueck, 1996; Drueck, Fuson, Carroll, & Bell, 1995; Fraivillig, 2001, 1996; Fraivillig, Murphy, & Fuson, 1999; Fuson, 1997; Fuson & Carroll, 1998; Fuson, Carroll, & Drueck, 2000; Fuson, Carroll, & Landis, 1996; Murphy, 1998). Because of this elaborate development process, the production of the first edition of EM took more than 10 years.
This writing process — research-based drafting, field testing with formative evaluation studies, revision leading to commercial publication, and summative evaluation of the final materials — was designed to bridge the gap between research and practice. The overriding goal was to produce practical materials that ordinary teachers could use to significantly improve the mathematics education of their students.
Almost immediately after the publication of Sixth Grade Everyday Mathematics in 1996, work began on a second edition. Due to the exigencies of commercial publication, the second edition development schedule was more compressed than the first edition schedule, but a similar writing process was used. As with the first edition, the second edition authors sought detailed feedback from teachers, tried out materials in classrooms, and revised the draft materials accordingly. Results from the Northwestern University longitudinal study, including a series of unpublished reports with recommendations for revisions, were especially useful in the second edition work.
Everyday Mathematics Student Achievement
A large number of studies of Everyday Mathematics student achievement have been conducted. These studies have been carried out by four principal groups: (i) the elementary and evaluation components of UCSMP (see above for cites), (ii) an NSF-funded group at Northwestern University, which carried out a five-year longitudinal study of the curriculum (see above for cites), (iii) individual schools and districts using the curriculum (Everyday Learning, 2001, 1998, 1996; Greene, 1996; Briars & Resnick, 2000; Mathematics Evaluation Committee of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District, 1997), and, increasingly, (iv) independent researchers (Hawkes, Kimmelman, & Kroeze, 1997; Woodward & Baxter, 1997; Riordan & Noyce, in press). These studies, which have used a wide range of instruments and methods to measure students’ progress and understanding, provide a broad perspective on the effects of the curriculum.
Generally, results indicate the following
- On traditional topics, such as fact knowledge and paper-and pencil computation, Everyday Mathematics students perform as well as students in more traditional basal programs. However, Everyday Mathematics students use a greater variety of computation methods and are especially strong on mental computation.
- On topics that have been underrepresented in the elementary curriculum, such as geometry, measurement, algebra, problem solving, reasoning, and communication, Everyday Mathematics students score substantially higher that students in more traditional programs. Total mathematics achievement typically increases significantly following the adoption of the curriculum.
The high level of Everyday Mathematics student achievement is evidence for the validity of the research on which the program is based and for the robustness of the writing process that produced the finished materials. Everyday Mathematics shows that a research-based, Standards-aligned curriculum can lead to higher student achievement. The curriculum’s wide-scale implementation — approximately 2,000,000 students currently use the materials — demonstrates, moreover, that such a curriculum can succeed in the marketplace.
Conclusion
Like the NCTM Standards (1989, 1991, 1995, 2000), the Everyday Mathematics curriculum has been influenced by a rich body of research about children learning mathematics. Many sources have informed the development of lessons, activities, and teaching suggestions. Children in the early grades are capable of much more than had been previously thought. Manipulatives facilitate modeling mathematical concepts and communication about those concepts, thus promoting the development of children’s thinking. The problem-solving approach and everyday contexts in Everyday Mathematics are similar to lessons in Japanese classrooms and other constructivist classes, but are also based on Dewey’s conception of inquiry-based learning that connects to students’ everyday knowledge.
More than 50 years of scholarship provided an initial research base for curriculum development, but a writing process that deeply involves teachers and children in the development of the materials has been essential to translating that research into practice. Teachers using Everyday Mathematics have been generous in opening their classes for observations and tests and in helping us identify strengths and weakness of the existing K-6 Everyday Mathematics program. Through meetings, surveys, classroom observations, and interviews, these teachers continue to provide much valuable advice for the authors as they continuously work to improve the curriculum.