Randomized Trial Meets the Real World: Understanding Null Results from a Mathematics-Focused Program
135 views · Published 7 April 2015 · 1:21:23 · Indexed 31 October 2026
Channel: Vanderbilt University · 2015 · Education
Dr. Heather C. Hill Harvard University, Graduate School of Education 04/02/2015 Following a finding of null results in a randomized trial, researchers frequently resign themselves to negative outcomes – for the program developers, the schools, teachers and students who participated in the study, and for their own CV. However, following Lemons, Fuchs, Gilbert & Fuchs (2014), we take null results from a randomized trial of the Math Solutions professional development program as the starting point for inquiry into the mechanisms that produced such results. We draw five hypotheses from the literature on program implementation, and evaluate each hypothesis against evidence collected during our three-year study. Evidence appears to support three hypotheses in particular: that the classroom instruction desired by program was extraordinarily complex and thus difficult for teachers to enact; that features of the district environment mitigated against full implementation by teachers; and that the program itself did not adequately address the weaknesses in mathematics teaching observed in the district. Follow Vanderbilt on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vanderbiltu, on Instagram: http://instagram.com/vanderbiltu and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vanderbilt. See all Vanderbilt social media at http://social.vanderbilt.edu.
