What Leads to Success in Algebra? New Research Holds a Clue

A new study by Student Achievement Partners identifies early interventions that can increase later Algebra success.

We’re excited to share the results of a groundbreaking new study by Student Achievement Partners!

The study, “Preparation for Success in Algebra: Exploring Math Education Relationships by Analyzing Large Data Sets (EMERALDS),” is one of the largest longitudinal assessments of what prepares students for success in Algebra.

The study was designed to explore how to better support students who are Black, Latino, English learner-designated, experiencing poverty, and/or female to achieve better results in Algebra. It involved a large-scale, four-year longitudinal assessment of data sets from more than a million students representing a broad range of racial/ethnic backgrounds, income levels, and geographic regions.

The main results of the study were based on detailed, longitudinal data from 100,000 Florida students using our MATHia software, which provided the fine-tuned information necessary to identify middle school topics that led to success in Algebra.

Key Findings
 

• Overall mathematical performance in elementary grades is a substantive predictor of later Algebra outcomes. This is true irrespective of gender, ethnicity, race, disability status, English learner designation, eligibility for reduced or free lunches, students’ prior English language arts competencies, or school/district.
   
• Results show the importance of investing in arithmetic in the elementary grades to get students ready for success in Algebra, and these patterns of mathematical progress from arithmetic to Algebra seem to hold across student demographics and locations. In addition, skill at translating word problems into algebraic equations and understanding different ways functions can be represented (e.g., equation, graphically) were shown to be uniquely related to later Algebra I End of Course (EOC) performance.
   
• Completion of more workspaces in MATHia led to better performance in Algebra I in subsequent years. The effect was even stronger in students who had low test scores in middle school, indicating that MATHia helps close the gap for students who need it most.

We are committed to advancing equity in education and helping all students learn, and we are thrilled to have the efficacy of MATHia validated in this research.