Investigations "success stories" - NOT!

[Barb Schaefer]

Sadly, even the Investigations "success stories" that have been put
forth by Pearson (who sells Investigations for TERC) are NOT truly
successful. It listed 70 sites, and someone in Virginia decided to see
how those districts are doing with Investigations.

Here's the summary:

• 62 of 70 “Evidence for Success” school districts responded to the
survey

• 36 of these districts have discontinued use or are in the process of
discontinuing the use of Investigations (58% of districts responding;
51% of districts overall)

• 17 of these districts currently using Investigations are Title I
(schools/districts) and/or receiving National Science Foundation
funding and/or other grants for continued implementation of the
curricula (27% of districts responding; 24% of districts overall)

• 8 of the districts using Investigations are using supplemental
material to support gaps in the mathematical content of the program.
(7 of these districts are comprised of 7 elementary schools or less;
the 8th has only 15 elementary schools)

• Only two district responding were using Investigations without
supplementation (3.2% of districts responding; 2.9% of districts
overall)

• To date (24 Feb 2009) 8 districts had yet to respond; 6 of these are
Title I districts

Full report is posted below on our PQME website, fyi.