A Study of the Implementation of a Middle School Math Program and Student Achievement

Students who are entering the workplace are required to have middle or high school level skills. Graduates must develop skills in problem -solving and real-world mathematics. The purpose of this study was to determine (a) the extent to which teachers are using Carnegie Learning® for instructional planning, direct instruction, and assessment of students; (b) the extent to which there a statistically significant difference in spring MAP scores of students from spring 2016 to spring 2017 with teachers indicating they frequently use Carnegie Learning®; and (c) the impact of Carnegie Learning® on student achievement in Grades 6, 7, and 8. The theory of Gagne (1985) formed the theoretical foundation for this study. The school district in this study is a suburban school district that includes 27 schools with nearly 18,000 students. Fifty-four percent are Caucasian, 35% are African-American, 6% are Hispanic, 1.5% are Asian, 1.5% are American Indian, and 2% are other. The five middle schools within the school district were included in this study. Thirty middle school mathematics teachers participated in this mixed-method study. There were two phases of this study. Phase 1 included survey Likert scale question responses, and open-end questions were analyzed descriptively. Phase 2 included a paired t test implemented by the researcher using SPSS Statistics software. The final results verified positive correlations and the increased academic achievement of students measured by spring 2016 to spring 2017 MAP scores with teachers indicating they frequently use Carnegie Learning® for instructional planning, direct instruction in the classroom, and assessment of students. This study provides insight to school administrators, policy makers, and mathematics educators in choosing a mathematics program that will enhance student academic performance.