REL-NEI Begins Large-Scale Studies, Recruiting

Schools throughout New England are encouraged to apply for inclusion in one of two new large-scale randomized controlled trial studies conducted by REL Northeast and Islands. These studies address two critical issues in education: broadening access to Algebra I in the eighth grade, and improving adolescent literacy.

"We are hopeful that both of these studies will make significant contributions to the research literature and provide important guidance to inform high-stakes educational decisions," observes Katie Culp, Director of Outreach for REL-NEI.

REL-NEI is currently conducting outreach to schools in Maine for the Virtual Algebra study, which seeks to examine the policy implications of offering an online Algebra I course to eighth grade students. The study seeks to attract students who are prepared to take an Algebra I course, but who attend schools that do not offer the course until high school.

Specifically, the study seeks to determine whether students who take the online Virtual Algebra course in eighth grade demonstrate higher mathematics achievement than students who take the mathematics offerings as currently structured in their high school. The study will also examine higher-level mathematics course-taking patterns and success in ninth and tenth grade.

"This study is important to Maine, and other REL-NEI jurisdictions," says Pam Buffington, REL-NEI's Maine State Liaison. "The results have policy implications that relate to equity of access to critical gateway skills for advanced mathematics courses, expanded postsecondary options and higher levels of achievement for students including those from small, often geographically isolated, schools and communities."

Schools participating in this study stand to gain many benefits, including a high quality Algebra I course offered online for eighth graders at no cost, a highly qualified teacher to teach the course, ongoing technical support, graphing calculators, and compensation for on-site proctors and teacher participation.

REL-NEI is also reaching out to sixth-grade teachers in high-need schools in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Rhode Island for another technology-based study that focuses on reading comprehension. This study will assess the effectiveness of Thinking Reader, a software-based intervention designed to advance literacy development among middle-grades students.

The Thinking Reader software presents digital versions of nine popular, multicultural, award-winning novels, and uses a software program with embedded supports to help students practice and master various reading comprehension strategies in an online format. The program will supplement students' regular English language arts curriculum, and is appropriate for English Language Learner (ELL) students, struggling readers, and special education students, as well as on-grade-level readers.

"During our regional needs analysis, it was clear that adolescent literacy was and is one of the most urgent issues to address," says Teresa Duncan, the study's Principal Investigator. "We conducted a scan of different adolescent literacy interventions, trying to determine which ones had promising - and rigorous - prior research to support the developer's claims. The Thinking Reader software program stood out as an intervention that was both grounded in literacy theory and based on empirically proven literacy strategies."

Participating schools will receive free Thinking Reader software, headphones and microphones, paperback books and teacher support materials for their sixth-grade reading classrooms. Teachers will also receive professional development and ongoing technical assistance.

Research and project staff from Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) and American Institutes for Research (AIR) will collaborate on both research studies.

Participants interested in learning about either study can visit their respective websites: http://www.virtualalgebrastudy.org/ and http://www.literacyintervention.org/. Both studies will be conducted during the 2008-2009 academic years, with data collection for the Virtual Algebra study continuing for an additional two years.