Achievement of Eighth Grade Students in Mathematics After

The purpose of this study was to examine the three- year effect of the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) on the mathematics achievement of middle school students in a southeastern Tennessee public school district. This was accomplished by (1) comparing the mathematics achievement of eighth graders who have completed three years of CMP with their mathematics achievement after completing one and two years of CMP; (2) comparing the achievement of male and female students during the same period of time; and (3) comparing the mathematics achievement of historically underrepresented students after completing one, two, and three years of CMP.

In order to provide for a richer analysis of the CMP experience, the overall design employed quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The quantitative section of the study examined the mathematical achievement of almost 2,900 of the 2001-2002 eighth graders, over 3,000 of the 2000-2001 seventh graders, and over 3,100 1999-2000 sixth graders as evidenced by their Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) test scores. The qualitative segment of the study explored the experiences of the textbook adoption committee members, teachers, administrators, and parents.

Using the Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program mathematics total battery test score as the dependent variable, there was no significant difference between the mathematics achievement of students completing one or two years of CMP.

However, there was a significant different in the mathematics achievement between students completing three years of CMP when compared to their mathematics scores after one and two years. There was also a significant difference between male and female students after completing one and two years of CMP but no significant difference was detected after the completion of three years. Though there was a significant difference revealed in the achievement between African Americans and Non African Americans after completing one, two, and three years of CMP the gap closed slightly after completing three years. Overall, CMP students performed better on the state achievement assessment the longer they were being instructed using the standards based curriculum.