Research In Support Of Math4ALL
Math4ALL is based on the math software, Quarter Mile Math. That software was adopted for use at all Sylvan Learning Centers in the U.S. and Canada and was a math practice technology component of their “Math Essentials” curriculum. Quarter Mile Math was used by over 1,000,000 public and private school students and home users.
Research conducted on the effectiveness of Quarter Mile Math showed that students’ math skills improved by an average of 35%,
compared to the control group with only 14% improvement — and this after just thirteen minutes of use per week over eight weeks. The research also showed that the more the student used Quarter Mile Math, the greater their percentage improvement.
We are confident that Math4ALL exceeds these results given the significant improvements in the design and the extended access students can have to the program.
Footnotes
1) English language learners (ELLs) are the least educated population in U.S. schools and are critically underserved.
Also, 44% of 4th-grade ELLs score below the Basic level in math. Unfortunately, the percentage scoring below Basic increases to 69% by the 8th-grade. They fall further and further behind during each of these critically important learning years.
Hakuta, Kenji, Stanford University (and others). (2009). The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Recommendations for Addressing the Needs of English Language Learners. http://ellpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ELL-Stimulus-Recommendations.pdf
2) In addition to having linguistic barriers to learning, it should be noted that 67.1% of all ELL students are economically disadvantaged. 39.5% of all ELL students are below the poverty level.
James D. Bachmeier, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Temple University. (2015).
3) Research tells us that ELL students need educational content in their native languages to help keep them on pace with their native English-speaking peers while they learn English.
Goldenberg, Claude. Stanford Graduate School of Education (2008). Teaching English Language Learners: What the Research Does — and Does Not — Say. American Educator. http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2008/goldenberg.pdf
Castro, Dina C., Garcia, Eugene E. & Markos, Amy. Heising-Simons Foundation and McKnight Foundation. (2015). Helping America's Dual Language Learners Succeed: A Research-based Agenda for Action. http://www.issuelab.org/resource/helping_americas_dual_language_learners_succeed_a_research_based_agenda_for_action
Hakuta, Kenji, Stanford University (and others). (2009). The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Recommendations for Addressing the Needs of English Language Learners. http://ellpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ELL-Stimulus-Recommendations.pdf
Howard, Elizabeth R., Sugarman, Julie, & Christian, Donna. Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk. (2003). Trends in Two-Way Immersion Education: A Review of the Research. http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED483005.pdf
Brisk, Maria Estela & Proctor, C. Patrick. Boston College. (2010). Understanding Language: Challenges and Supports for English Language Learners in Bilingual Programs. http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/11-Brisk%20Bilingual%20Programs%20FINAL_0.pdf
Thomas, Wayne P. & Collier, Virginia P. Center for Research on Education, Diversity and Excellence — U.C. Berkeley. (2002). A National Study of School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students' Long-Term Academic Achievement. http://escholarship.ucop.edu/uc/item/65j213pt
Genesee , Fred, Lindholm-Leary, Kathryn, Saunders, William, & Christian, Donna. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk. (2005). English Language Learners in U.S. Schools: An Overview of Research Findings http://www.seisd.net/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=2066951
Hakuta, Kenji, Santos, Maria. Stanford University. (2012). Commissioned Papers on Language and Literacy Issues in the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. http://mes.sccoe.org/resources/ALI%202012/11_KenjiUL%20Stanford%20Final%205-9-12%20w%20cover.pdf
August, Diane & Shanahan, Timothy. The Center for Applied Linguistics & Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (2006). Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. http://www.cal.org/resource-center/publications/developing-literacy
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2007). Urgent but Overlooked: The Literacy Crisis Among Adolescent English Language Learners. http://all4ed.org/wp-content/uploads/UrgentOver.pdf
Lindholm-Leary, Kathryn J. San Jose State University. (2005). Review of Research and Best Practices on Effective Features of Dual Language Education Programs. http://www.lindholm-leary.com/resources/review_research.pdf
4) While some educational products are available in Spanish, 23% of all ELL students (1,100,000 children nationwide) don’t speak Spanish.
Percent of ELLs speaking Spanish — 77% (2018)
Bailik, Kristen, Scheller, Alissa, & Walker, Kristi. Pew Research. (2018). 6 facts about English language learners in U.S. public schools https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/25/6-facts-about-english-language-learners-in-u-s-public-schools/
ELL Population
Ruiz Soto, Ariel G., Hooker, Sarah & Batalova, Jeanne. Migration Policy Institute. (2015). States and Districts with the Highest Number and Share of English Language Learners. http://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/states-and-districts-highest-number-and-share-english-language-learners
5) Educators need assessments of their English language learners to better meet their needs.
Castro, Dina C., Garcia, Eugene E. & Markos, Amy. Heising-Simons Foundation and McKnight Foundation. (2015). Helping America's Dual Language Learners Succeed: A Research-based Agenda for Action. http://www.issuelab.org/resource/helping_americas_dual_language_learners_succeed_a_research_based_agenda_for_action
Hakuta, Kenji, Stanford University (and others). (2009). The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act: Recommendations for Addressing the Needs of English Language Learners. http://ellpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/ELL-Stimulus-Recommendations.pdf
Brisk, Maria Estela & Proctor, C. Patrick. Boston College. (2010). Understanding Language: Challenges and Supports for English Language Learners in Bilingual Programs. http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/11-Brisk%20Bilingual%20Programs%20FINAL_0.pdf
Hakuta, Kenji. Stanford University. (1998). Improving Education for All Children: Meeting the Needs of Language Minority Children. http://www.stanford.edu/~hakuta/Publications/(1998)%20-%20IMPROVING%20EDUCATION%20FOR%20ALL%20CHILDREN%20MEETING%20THE%20NE.pdf
Hakuta, Kenji. Stanford University. (2007). Similar English Learner Students, Different Results: Why Do Some Schools Do Better? http://edsource.org/wp-content/publications/SimELreportcomplete.pdf
Moschkovich, Judit. University of California, Santa Cruz. (2010). Mathematics, the Common Core, and Language: Recommendations for Mathematics Instruction for ELs Aligned with the Common Core. http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/02-JMoschkovich%20Math%20FINAL_bound%20with%20appendix.pdf
Abedi, Jamal & Linquanti Davis Robert. University of California, Davis & WestEd. (2012). Issues and Opportunities in Improving the Quality of Large Scale Assessment Systems for English Language Learners. http://ell.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/pdf/academic-papers/07-Abedi%20Linquanti%20Issues%20and%20Opportunities%20FINAL.pdf
Genesee , Fred, Lindholm-Leary, Kathryn, Saunders, William, & Christian, Donna. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk. (2005). English Language Learners in U.S. Schools: An Overview of Research Findings http://www.seisd.net/common/pages/DisplayFile.aspx?itemId=2066951
Hakuta, Kenji, Santos, Maria. Stanford University. (2012). Commissioned Papers on Language and Literacy Issues in the Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. http://mes.sccoe.org/resources/ALI%202012/11_KenjiUL%20Stanford%20Final%205-9-12%20w%20cover.pdf
August, Diane & Shanahan, Timothy. The Center for Applied Linguistics & Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. (2006). Developing Literacy in Second-Language Learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth. http://www.cal.org/resource-center/publications/developing-literacy
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2007). Urgent but Overlooked: The Literacy Crisis Among Adolescent English Language Learners. http://all4ed.org/wp-content/uploads/UrgentOver.pdf
6) The diversity of languages spoken in U.S. schools has increased in the last decades.​
Shin, Hyon & Kominski, Robert. United States Census Bureau. (2007). Language Use in the United States: 2007. http://www.census.gov/hhes/socdemo/language/data/acs/ACS-12.pdf
7) The Department of Education's focus on equity in education regardless of "geographic location, family income, or any other demographic factor."
SRI International, Duncan, Arne, & Culatta, Richard. (2015). Ed Tech Developer's Guide. http://tech.ed.gov/developers-guide/
9) Tests as early as fourth grade are significant predictors of future levels of academic achievement and outcomes in life.
McKinsey & Company. (2009) The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap in America’s Schools. http://mckinseyonsociety.com/downloads/reports/Education/achievement_gap_report.pdf
10) English language learners have a greater risk of underachievement
Eugene E. García, Bryant T. Jensen, & Kent P. Scribner. (2009). The Demographic Imperative. ASCD (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development). http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el200904_garcia.pdf
11) English language learner student population in 1990
Goldenberg, Claude. Stanford Graduate School of Education (2008). Teaching English Language Learners: What the Research Does — and Does Not — Say. American Educator. http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2008/goldenberg.pdf
12) Statistics on blind and seeing impaired students
American Federation for the Blind. (2016). Children and Youth with Vision Loss. http://www.afb.org/info/blindness-statistics/children-and-youth/children-and-youth-with-vision-loss/235
The U.S. Department of Education. IES: National Center for Education Statistics. (2015). The Condition of Education 2015 (page 84). http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2015/2015144.pdf
13) English language learner student population and ratio to non-English lanugage learners in 2016
14) Federal requirement for comparable access to educational materials regardless of race, color, or national origin
Office of Civil Rights. U.S. Department of Education. (2014). Dear Colleague Letter: Resource Comparability. http://tech.ed.gov/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/OfficeofCivilRights_DearColleagueLetter_ResourceEquity.pdf
Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education. (2016). Future Ready Learning: Reimagining the Role of Technology in Education. http://tech.ed.gov/files/2015/12/NETP16.pdf
15) The new federal focus on equity and accessibility via edtech
16) Certain ELLs have an on-time high school graduation rate as low as 49%.
Alliance for Excellent Education. (2007). Urgent but Overlooked: The Literacy Crisis Among Adolescent English Language Learners. http://all4ed.org/wp-content/uploads/UrgentOver.pdf