Vermont

Randomized Controlled Trial Sites

REL-NEI conducted two long-term randomized controlled trial (RCT) studies in five states in two critical content areas—literacy and math—during middle-grade years, a pivotal time in students’ learning. The Online Algebra Study (Maine, Vermont) examined how improving access to Algebra I for eighth-graders, through an online course, benefits student math achievement. The Thinking Reader Study (Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island) examined the impact of an interactive computer-based program on reading achievement.

About the Online Algebra Study

Launched in September 2008, the Online Algebra Study provided an online Algebra I course to schools that did not previously offer algebra to their eighth-grade students. Schools identified which of their eighth-graders were ready to take Algebra I, and half those schools received the online course during the 2008–09 school year. Researchers tracked the math achievement and course-taking patterns of participating students and their classmates through fall 2010, when the students entered 10th grade. The study’s findings were published in December 2011.