WestEd recently published the largest study of its kind to evaluate an education technology math program nationally, including over 150,000 students between 2013 and 2016. This national-level study expands upon previously published WestEd independent validations of the effectiveness of ST Math at the district level (Los Angeles Unified School District 2013) and statewide (California 2014).
The study looked at grades 3, 4 and 5 in 474 schools that started using ST Math between 2013 and 2015, and included 16 states where complete state standardized test and demographic data was publicly available to the researchers.
The results were especially significant at the 239 schools that used ST Math consistently (where more than 85% of students used the program and on average completed 50% of their grade-level content during the year). These high fidelity schools showed significant growth.
Schools that consistently used ST Math outgrew similar schools in statewide rank by 14 percentile points.†
When looking at the percent of students in one grade who achieved math proficiency on their state test at a given school, ST Math had an average effect size of 0.36 on statewide ranking (z-score). As a reference point, the federal What Works Clearinghouse defines 0.25 effect size and above as “substantively important.”