Math Ed

School Psychology Review, 2007, Volume 36, No. 3, pp. 453-467

Effect of Technology-Enhanced Continuous Progress Monitoring on Math Achievement

Jim Ysseldyke University of Minnesota

Daniel M. Bolt

University of Wisconsin—Madison

Abstract. We examined the extent to which use of a technology-enhanced continuous progress monitoring system would enhance the results of math instruction, examined variability in teacher implementation of the program, and compared math results in classrooms in which teachers did and did not use the system. Classrooms were randomly assigned to within-school experimental and control groups. Participating students were pre- and post-tested using two standardized, nationally normed tests of math achievement. When teachers implemented the continuous progress monitoring system as intended, and when they used the data from the system to manage and differentiate instruction, students gained significantly more than those for whom implementation was limited or nil. Failure to take into account intervention integrity would have made it look like continuous progress monitoring did not enhance math results.

School personnel are focused increasingly on improvement of the overall achievement of their students, and there is a need and a requirement (under the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act) to find ways to implement evidence-based instructional practices, Lack of systematic, usable data on individual student performance and progress at the classroom level is a major bottleneck to improving teaching and leaming. At the same time publishers are producing comprehensive technology-enhanced progress monitoring systems that provide teachers with the data they need to differentiate instruction, group students on

the basis of comparable goals, and manage or adapt instruction based on student performance (Edformation, 2004; Good & Kaminski, 2002; McGraw-Hill Digital Leaming, 2002; Renaissance Leaming, 1998a). It is argued that such...