Book Description
The purpose of this correlation research study was to investigate the impact of computer-based learning on middle school math achievement of at-risk students. The participants for this study were drawn from a convenience sample of 83 middle school students located in southeastern Georgia. At-risk middle school students were achieving below their grade equivalent and failing to meet local and state proficiency standards. Computer-based instruction was implemented as an intervention to increase student achievement in mathematics. The study used a pretest-posttest control group design and used SPSS software to conduct the statistical analyses using an ANCOVA and t-test. The results indicated that the use of Math 180 did not result in a statistically significant increase in achievement of at-risk students. However, the observed power for each null hypothesis was very low, indicating the likelihood of a Type II error. Therefore, there may have been an effect of Math 180 on student achievement, but the sample sizes were too small to detect it. This type of intervention may be recommended for continued use; however, future research on other computer-based programs would be beneficial.