Study Eligibility
WestEd is looking for districts that:
- Have an interest in learning how to better support curriculum implementation with integrity.
- Have at least three middle schools, serving grades 6-8.
- Are willing to engage in and actively participate in the study for two school years (2024/2025 and 2025/2026).
- Have a demonstrated commitment to meeting the learning needs of Black and Latinx students, and all students experiencing socioeconomic challenges.
Benefits of Participation
- Professional development resources to support implementation for your district’s middle school mathematics curriculum;
- Data and measurement support from WestEd researchers, including support with measuring implementation as well as student attitudes and achievement;
- Aggregated implementation data to support continuous improvement and highlight bright spots, collected, analyzed, and summarized by WestEd researchers in advance of regular conversations with district partners.
- An end-of-project summary, bright spots, and sustainability report.
Study Timeline
- Summer 2023 – Summer 2024
Study recruitment.
- Fall 2024
Study begins. District teams and WestEd initiate the partnership with a kick-off meeting and initial data collection.
- Fall 2024 through Spring 2026
Data collection; WestEd shares data back to district partners and organizes regular opportunities to discuss the data and possible district improvement actions.
- Spring 2026
Study ends.
District and School Commitments
Districts will sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) committing to the study. Data collection burden will be minimal for teachers and students: In 2024/2025 and 2025/2026, all grade 6-8 teachers will complete three surveys about their instructional practice and administer two student surveys each year. Study emphasis will be on working with district math leaders to examine, discuss, and consider ways to act on collected curriculum implementation data.
District
Districts will sign a Memorandum of Agreement (MOU) committing to the study and to the collection of administrative data (professional development provision and costs, student demographic and mathematics achievement, and curriculum implementation data) as well as data from administrators, teachers, and students. The MOU specifies that districts will receive an annual stipend for professional learning, payable at the beginning of the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years. The stipend will depend on school participation ($5000 for districts with 3-5 participating schools, $15,000 for districts with 6-12 participating schools, and $20,000 with districts with more than 12 participating schools).
District Mathematics Leads:
Each district will convene a small team (~4 people) of district mathematics leaders to join an in-person meeting for approximately 90 minutes with WestEd researchers at the start of the project in fall 2024. The team will hold two 2-hour meetings each year with the researchers to discuss interim implementation data and study findings. The team will also support the study data collection, and data team members will be compensated with annual $1500 stipends.
Select data team members will also be asked to participate in one-hour interviews, which will be compensated separately.
School Site Principals:
Principals may be asked to participate in one-hour interviews to discuss their school site context for curriculum implementation. The interview will be compensated.
Teacher:
In 2024/2025 and 2025/2026, all teachers will complete three surveys about their instructional practice and administer two student surveys each year. Selected teachers will also participate in focus groups no more than once per year. All participating teachers will sign consent forms.
Student:
Students of each participating middle school teacher for whom we have obtained consent will complete two surveys per school year, in fall and spring.
