Learning math Developers of a new math curriculum called “Accelerated Math” compared performances of students taught by their system with control groups of students in the same schools who were taught using traditional instructional methods and materials. Statistics about pretest and posttest scores are shown in the table.

(J. Ysseldyke and S. Tardrew, Differentiating Math Instruction, Renaissance Learning, 2002)

a) Did the groups differ in average math score at the start of this study?

b) Did the group taught using the Accelerated Math program show a significant improvement in test scores?

c) Did the control group show significant improvement in test scores?

d) Were gains significantly higher for the Accelerated Math group than for the control group?

Instructional Method Acc. math Control Number of students 231 245 Pretest Mean 560.01 549.65 St. Dev 84.29 74.68 Posttest Mean 637.55 588.76 St. Dev 82.9 83.24 Individual gain Mean 77.53 39.11 St. Dev. 78.01 66.25