Book Description

The primary aim of this dissertation study was to determine whether English language learners (ELs) who received word-problem intervention (e.g., Pirate Math) demonstrated statistical differences in word-problem solving performance compared to their non-English language learner peers (non-ELs). My study (i.e., the present study) is part of a parent study funded by the Institute for Education Sciences (Powell, Berry & Barnes, 2020) designed to test the efficacy of a word-problem intervention (e.g., Pirate Math) for students with or at-risk for mathematics difficulties (MD) and to understand the role of algebraic reasoning within a word-problem intervention. Participants were third-grade students from the local school district. I analyzed data from two cohorts of the parent study (i.e., 2016-2017 and 2017-2018). In previous research, Pirate Math has successfully improved the word-problem solving performance of students in second and third grade (Fuchs, Powell, et al., 2014; Fuchs, Zumeta, et al., 2010; Powell, Berry, et al., 2019. While schema tutoring is a promising intervention, the efficacy of Pirate Math for third-grade students in the process of learning a new language and experience MD (i.e., Els with MD) is less known. With this dissertation study, I contribute to the growing body of research that examines the effects of randomized-controlled trials on a particular subgroup of students (i.e., EL students with or at-risk for MD). The school district determined EL status using an English proficiency test. In the parent study, the research team screened students on a word-problem measure (Jordan & Hanich, 2000), and using a cut-off score of 25th percentile, identified students as experiencing MD and regarded them eligible for the study. The research team randomly assigned eligible students to Pirate Math intervention or business-as-usual comparison group (BaU). Using one outcome measure of word problems (Texas Word Problems by Powell & Berry, 2015), I hypothesized that at posttest, the Pirate Math students would outperform the BaU students on the outcome measure. Using regression, I conducted a moderation analysis to examine whether language status moderates the intervention's effectiveness for ELs and non-ELs. Given that ELs perform at lower rates in mathematics, a significant need exists to understand ELs' performance on word problems and how it differs from the performance of their native English-speaking peers. In the concluding chapter, I discuss the study’s findings, implications for practice, and recommendations for future research