Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In hopes of boosting achievement for students with low math skills, some schools and districts have employed the policy of “double dose” math courses in middle or early high school. These extra class periods replace a traditional elective and offer students additional math instruction time with similarly skilled peers. This intervention has been studied empirically within two large, urban settings (Cortes, Goodman, & Nomi, 2015; Nomi & Allensworth, 2009; Taylor, 2014). Implementation within these districts was found to produce moderately positive short-term gains on math test scores (.16 to .26 SD), course grades (up to 0.4 GPA point increase), and course failure (up to a 9.3% pass rate increase) for low-performing math students.

However, we know very little about the effectiveness of this intervention when it is implemented in different settings and/or with different guidelines (e.g. associated professional development for teachers, classroom peer sorting, etc.). Since students are generally recommended to enroll in a double dose course based on a standardized test performance, the policy lends itself well to analysis using a regression discontinuity design. In the current study, I use a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to obtain a causal estimate of the impact of seventh-grade Pre-Algebra double dose courses on math achievement for low performing math students in a midsize, suburban school district. The setting is unique to the literature, as is the district’s implementation. The district analyzed contains a different student demographic profile, a relaxed implementation strategy (flexible curriculum, different teachers in main and double courses, less organized student sorting), and a focus on courses offered in an earlier grade level compared with districts previously studied.

Preliminary findings suggest that, for students within a close bandwidth to the district-designated assignment cutoff, there is no significant impact of the intervention on the end-of-year standardized math assessment, grades in the traditional seventh-grade math course, or traditional math course passage rates. However, secondary approaches using difference-in-difference and OLS regression models indicate potential test score increases for double dose students near the bottom of the math achievement distribution (outside of the regression discontinuity bandwidth) and English Language Learners.

This analysis provides a cautionary tale for school districts hoping to replicate the positive effects found for this intervention in their sites. These findings suggest that setting and policy implementation decisions can dramatically alter the effectiveness of the intervention and should be considered more carefully. Relevant policy recommendations are discussed.