The Title I coordinator for the district has been tasked with developing a plan to test two new intensive remediation programs for students with dyscalculia (like dyslexia, only numbers are the problem, rather than words!). The students are 60 8th graders at a magnet school for kids with their particular learning disability. Order the plans below, #1 being the best choice, and #3 being the worst.
a) She randomly assigns the children to three groups by drawing names from a hat; the first name goes in group A, the second in group B, the third in group C, and so on. Group A receives no new services, but continues with their current curriculum. For six weeks, Group B continues with their current curriculum and is pulled out of class during reading for the alternative 30 minute intervention. For 6 weeks, Group C follows the same procedure--they are pulled out during reading for a 30 minute intervention. Then, Group B and C switch programs for the next 6 weeks, to counterbalance. At the beginning and end of the intervention phase, all of the children are given a diagnostic exam and mathematics concept test by the school psychologist.
b) She randomly assigns the children to three groups by drawing names from a hat; the first name goes in group A, the second in group B, the third in group C, and so on. Group A receives no new services, but continues with their current curriculum. For 12 weeks, Group B continues with their current curriculum and is pulled out of class during reading for the alternative 30 minute intervention. Group C follows the same procedure--they are pulled out during reading for a 30 minute intervention. At the beginning and end of the 12-week intervention phase, all of the children are given a diagnostic exam and mathematics concept test by the school psychologist.
c) She randomly assigns the children to two groups by drawing names from a hat; the first name goes in group A, the second in group B, and so on. For 12 weeks, Group A continues with their current curriculum and is pulled out of class during reading for a 30 minute intervention. Group B follows the same procedure--they are pulled out duriAg reading for the alternative 30 minute intervention. At the beginning and end of the 12 weeks, all the children are given a diagnostic exam and mathematics concept test by the school psychologist.