| Whether to provide accelerated curriculum to all students has been a matter of debate for years (Burris, 2003; Loveless, 2008; Ma, 2005). This dissertation shows the effects of accelerating curriculum from five years into four years for all students following a standard course of study for mathematics in a small city school district in suburban New York. It was found that students in cohorts after the program implementation earned lower scores, on average, on the New York State Algebra Regents exam. This finding remained true even after controlling for prior state test scores and years of support. It cannot be ignored that the Algebra Regents exam results for students in cohorts after program implementation were negatively impacted, even though those students with higher prior state test scores tended to continue to have higher Algebra Regents exam scores after implementation. The negative "program effect" remained significant and substantive even when controlling for prior achievement, gender, LEP status, Special Ed status, race/ethnicity, and poverty status.;The implications for school districts go beyond the area of mathematics. As districts work on curriculum in other areas, such as English Language Arts or World Languages, they should consider opportunities to accelerate with appropriate supports. If the implementation was done as in this study, districts should be prepared for a potential drop in achievement as they work to improve equity of access to accelerated curricula. |
