Program Description
ASSISTments is an online homework tool coupled with teacher training, providing students with math assistance and teachers with assessments of student progress. There are two types of ASSISTment content – the first is linked to existing textbook homework problems and provides teachers the flexibility to assign suitable problem sets and the second is intended for mastery-oriented skill practice. In its evaluations, the intervention included professional development and coaching designed to increase teachers’ readiness and efficacy in using ASSISTments.
Program Outcomes
Two randomized studies have examined the impact of ASSISTments on middle school students. The first study took place in 43 schools across Maine, a state that provided every seventh-grade student with a laptop to take home. In comparison to a control group that continued with existing homework practices, seventh grade students who used the intervention for math homework scored significantly higher on the TerraNova mathematics test (effect size = +0.18), qualifying ASSISTments for the ESSA “Strong” category.
A replication study was conducted in 63 diverse schools across North Carolina. Schools were randomly assigned to the intervention to implement ASSISTments in all their grade 7 math classrooms or the business-as-usual comparison condition. Nearly 6,000 students (2961 treatment, 3,030 control) were included in the final sample of whom 20% were Black, 22% Hispanic, 51% White, and 61% economically disadvantaged. School closures due to COVID-19 resulted in not only interrupted ASSISTments usage (which resumed for a portion of the teachers during remote learning) but also no end-of-grade (EOG) test collection. Instead, program impacts were measured 1 year after implementation, at the end of 8th grade. Students in the intervention schools assigned to use ASSISTments in 7th grade scored significantly higher than comparison students on North Carolina’s 8th grade EOG mathematics test (effect size = +0.10). Averaging across the two studies, the mean effect size was +0.13. ASSISTments receives an Evidence for ESSA badge for having two studies meeting the “Strong” category.
Professional Development/Training
5 days of professional development, in addition to three in-person or remote coaching visits
Technology
The ASSISTments technology is a web-based platform available at no cost to schools, however students need computer access at home.