SuccessMaker Math: An Effective Intervention for
Special Education Students?
Number
of AR Project Documented Hours: 30
AR Project Summary: I began the project with a
meeting that included my principal, the campus instructional specialist, the
campus technologist, and the SuccessMaker representative in order to discuss
the purpose of the SuccessMaker program. Next, I attended training led by the
SuccessMaker representative in order to learn about the program’s rationale and
how to effectively implement the program. Along with the SuccessMaker
representative, I met with first through fifth grade classroom teachers at my
school to discuss special education math concerns and the use of SuccessMaker
math as an intervention to better meet special education students’ needs.
Then I
created a schedule that ensured all special education students had at least
four 15-minute sessions of SuccessMaker math weekly that did not conflict with
other interventions or requirements. I also met with the campus technologist to
arrange for ten laptop computers to be updated and set up with the appropriate
software for implementation of SuccessMaker. This task proved to be the most difficult,
as every time there was a Java or Adobe Flash update, the laptops had to be
updated in order for SuccessMaker to work. Only the campus technologist has
access to do the updates, so I continually relied on her to complete the
updates in order to make it possible for students to work on SuccessMaker.
Monthly, I meet with the SuccessMaker representative to learn more about how to
gather, interpret, and analyze the program’s math data.
My next step will involve
reading relevant literature about the success of SuccessMaker math or similar
web-based math interventions. Then I will interpret and analyze all of the data
that I have collected, including the performance data from SuccessMaker math,
Scholastic Math Inventory (SMI) scores, and report card math grades, in order
to determine whether students had more growth in math performance with or
without the SuccessMaker math intervention as shown by SMI scores and report
card grades. Finally, I will evaluate my action plan by presenting the results
of my action research to my campus, site supervisor, and online colleagues.