Shechtman, N., Roschelle, J., Haertel, G., Knudsen, J., & Tatar, D. (2005). Measuring student learning gains in conceptual mathematics when scaling a technological intervention for middle school mathematics. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada.
Abstract
U.S. students are less likely than their international peers to have opportunities to learn complex and conceptually difficult mathematics (CCDM), and they lag in achievement. The Scaling Up SimCalc project is a multiyear longitudinal randomized experiment to test the efficacy of an intervention that integrates technology (our software, SimCalc MathWorlds) and curriculum to create opportunities for students to learn CCDM. One of the major challenges of this research has been to create a measurement instrument that would meet rigorous evidentiary standards for validity and have the capacity to demonstrate growth in students’ knowledge of CCDM. In this paper, we present our assessment development process, its rationale, and the data we have collected (and continue to collect) to support our argument for the instrument’s validity.