Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI)

Newman, Denis; Investigator, Co-Principal; Finney, Pamela B.; Bell, Steven L.; Jaciw, Andrew P.; Zacamy, Jenna; Gould, Laura Feagans; Garcia, Sandra

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2511347

Cited by 23 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In a large‐scale cluster randomized experiment, Newman et al () evaluated the effects of the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI). The study involved 7,258 grade 5 and 7 students and 780 teachers in 79 schools from five regions of Alabama.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are now many studies that compare classes using innovative programs to those using traditional methods. Studies are increasingly using random assignment to conditions, large samples, durations of a year or more, and other features that add rigor and reduce bias in experimental studies (e.g., Borman, Boylston, Lee, Lanehart, & Comer, ; Borman, Gamoran, & Bowdon, ; Harris et al, ; Heller, ; Newman et al, ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Effective secondary science programs: A best‐evidence synthesis

et al. 2016

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This article reports a systematic review of research on science programs in grades 6–12. Twenty‐one studies met inclusion criteria including use of randomized or quasi‐experimental assignment to conditions, measures that assess content emphasized equally in experimental and control groups, and a duration of at least 12 weeks. Programs fell into four categories. Instructional process programs (ES = +0.17) and technology programs (ES = +0.47) had positive sample‐size weighted mean effect sizes, while use of science kits (ES = −0.02) and innovative textbooks (ES = +0.10) had much lower effects. Outcomes support the use of programs with a strong focus on professional development, technology, and support for teaching, rather than materials‐focused innovations. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54: 58–81, 2017

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effective secondary science programs: A best‐evidence synthesis

et al. 2016

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“…The Alabama Math, Science and Technology Initiative ( AMSTI ) is an ambitious, state‐wide approach intended to improve performance in upper‐elementary and middle schools across Alabama. After developing and beginning dissemination of the program since 2002, the state contracted with a third‐party evaluator to do a cluster randomized experiment to evaluate the program starting in 2006–2007 (Newman et al, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental evaluations of elementary science programs: A best-evidence synthesis

et al. 2014

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This article presents a systematic review of research on the achievement outcomes of all types of approaches to teaching science in elementary schools. Study inclusion criteria included use of randomized or matched control groups, a study duration of at least 4 weeks, and use of achievement measures independent of the experimental treatment. A total of 23 studies met these criteria. Among studies evaluating inquiry‐based teaching approaches, programs that used science kits did not show positive outcomes on science achievement measures (weighted ES = +0.02 in 7 studies), but inquiry‐based programs that emphasized professional development but not kits did show positive outcomes (weighted ES = +0.36 in 10 studies). Technological approaches integrating video and computer resources with teaching and cooperative learning showed positive outcomes in a few small, matched studies (ES = +0.42 in 6 studies). The review concludes that science teaching methods focused on enhancing teachers' classroom instruction throughout the year, such as cooperative learning and science‐reading integration, as well as approaches that give teachers technology tools to enhance instruction, have significant potential to improve science learning. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 51:870–901, 2014.

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“…Research based on a comparison of group outcomes, such as RCT, offers an incomplete understanding of causality because the investigation of the process of change is not incorporated into the design. An effective triangulation of findings from experimental or quasi-experimental designs with those from qualitative research on the implementation process go a long way toward addressing this shortcoming, and RCT studies are in fact often supplemented with a qualitative research component to describe the implementation story, although the fact that this information is collected does not necessarily mean that it is also utilized to inform the findings (Newman et al, 2012). CDS takes a specific interest in the applicability of a set of mathematically well-defined scenarios of stability and change to the education and schooling process, which neither RCT nor qualitative research are well-equipped to address.…”

Section: Three Questions For the Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Change, Self-organization and the Search for Causality in Educational Research and Practice

Koopmans

2014

COMPLICITY

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Causality is an inextricable part of the educational process, as our understanding of what works in education depends on our ability to make causal attributions. Yet, the research and policy literature in education tends to define causality narrowly as the attribution of educational outcomes to intervention effects in a randomized control trial context. This reduction of the educational process to simple input – output relationships leaves important questions unattended about how change is produced in educational systems, and how observed results can be predicted based on the propensity toward change in the baseline settings of those systems. This paper considers these questions from a Complex Dynamical Systems perspective, and concludes that answers to them can qualify the findings from at least some experiments.

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Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative (AMSTI)

Cited by 23 publications

References 17 publications

Effective secondary science programs: A best‐evidence synthesis

Effective secondary science programs: A best‐evidence synthesis

Experimental evaluations of elementary science programs: A best-evidence synthesis

Change, Self-organization and the Search for Causality in Educational Research and Practice

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