Examining the Impact of a First Grade Whole Number Intervention by Group Size

Abstract

This study utilized a partially nested randomized control design to investigate the impact of Fusion, a first-grade math intervention. Blocking on classrooms, students were randomly assigned to one of the three conditions: a Fusion two-student group, a Fusion five student group, or a no-treatment control group. Two primary research questions were examined: What was the overall impact of the Fusion intervention as compared to a business-as-usual comparison condition? and Was there a differential impact on student outcomes between the 2:1 Fusion and the 5:1 Fusion conditions? Analyses found a positive effects on four outcome measures favoring Fusion groups over control with two of the differences statistically significant. Results between Fusion groups found positive effects favoring the Fusion 2:1 group compared to the Fusion 5:1 group on all four outcome measures with two of the differences statistically significant. On a second-grade follow-up measure, no difference was found between Fusion groups and control, but a statistically significant difference was found between Fusion groups favoring the 2:1 Fusion group. Future research directions and implications for practice are discussed.

Keywords:

• Math
• numeracy
• intervention
• group size

Disclosure Statement

The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Ben Clarke, and Chris Doabler are eligible to receive a portion of royalties from the University of Oregon’s distribution and licensing of certain FUSION-based works. Potential conflicts of interest are managed through the University of Oregon’s Research Compliance Services. Additionally, the terms of this arrangement have been reviewed and approved by the University of Texas at Austin in accordance with its policy on objectivity in research. An independent external evaluator and coauthor of this publication completed the research analysis described in the article.

Open Research Statements

This manuscript was not required to disclose open research practices, as it was initially submitted prior to JREE mandating open research statements in April 2022.

Additional information

Funding

The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through grants R324A090341 and R324A160046 to the Center on Teaching and Learning at the University of Oregon.