Standards-based mathematics curricula and middle-grades students' performance on standardized achievement tests

Approximately 1400 middle-grades students who had used either the Connected Mathematics Project (CMP) or the MATHThematics (STEM or MT) program for at least 3 years were assessed on two widely used tests, the Stanford Achievement Test, Ninth Edition (Stanford 9) and the New Standards Reference Exam in Mathematics (NSRE). Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to analyze subtest results following methods described by Raudenbush and Bryk (2002). When Standards-based students' achievement patterns are analyzed, traditional topics were learned. Students' achievement levels on the Open Ended and Problem Solving subtests were greater than those on the Procedures subtest. This finding is consistent with results documented in many of the studies reported in Senk and Thompson (2003), and other sources.