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Building Blocks and TRIAD

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Evidence rating: 3+
Cost rating: 1

Building Blocks is a preschool mathematics curriculum for children between the ages of 3 and 4. It is delivered in preschools and aims to improve mathematics ability. Building Blocks includes software and print materials for children, teachers, and families.

TRIAD (Technology-enhanced, Research-based, Instruction, Assessment and professional Development) is a scale-up model that supports the Building Blocks curriculum via professional development for teachers (including a Web application that supports teaching based on learning trajectories), classroom materials and classroom coaching.

The overall programme is particularly designed for children who live mainly in poverty and are, therefore, at risk of experiencing difficulty in education. The intervention is delivered by trained teachers.

The maths activities are aimed at moving the children through developmental levels to meet learning goals. Teacher training sessions are focused on the learning trajectories for each mathematical topic.

EIF Programme Assessment

Evidence rating: 3+
Level 3 indicates evidence of efficacy. This means the programme can be described as evidence-based: it has evidence from at least one rigorously conducted RCT or QED demonstrating a statistically significant positive impact on at least one child outcome. This programme does not receive a rating of 4 as it has not yet replicated its results in another rigorously conducted study, where at least one study indicates long-term impacts, and at least one uses measures independent of study participants.
Cost rating: 1
A rating of 1 indicates that a programme has a low cost to set up and deliver, compared with other interventions reviewed by EIF. This is equivalent to an estimated unit cost of less than €125. This figure is based on an analysis of UK costs and a conversion rate of 1.19.

What does the plus mean?

The plus rating indicates that this programme has evidence from at least one level 3 study, along with evidence from other studies rated 2 or better.

Child outcomes

This programme can affect outcomes for children in Active and healthy, physical and mental wellbeing.

According to the best available evidence for this programme's impact, it can achieve the following positive outcomes for children:

Enhancing school achievement & employment

Improved maths ability

based on study 1a

  • Statement: 7.35-point improvement on the Research-based Elementary Math Assessment (REMA)
  • Score: 26
  • Timeframe: Immediately after the intervention

based on study 1b

based on study 1c

based on study 2

based on study 3

Improved language ability

based on study 1a

This programme also has evidence of supporting positive outcomes for couples, parents or families that may be relevant to a commissioning decision. Please see About the evidence for more detail.

Who is it for?

The best available evidence for this programme relates to the following age-groups:

Preschool

How is it delivered?

The best available evidence for this programme relates to implementation through these delivery models:

  • Group

Where is it delivered?

The best available evidence for this programme relates to its implementation in these settings:

  • Primary school

How is it targeted?

The best available evidence for this programme relates to its implementation as:

  • Targeted selective

Where has it been implemented?

  • Ecuador
  • England
  • United States

Ireland provision

This programme has not been implemented in Ireland.

Ireland evaluation

This programme’s best evidence does not include evaluation conducted in Ireland.

About the programme

What happens during the delivery?

How is it delivered?

  • Building Blocks/TRIAD is delivered to children 15 minutes per day on most school days, by trained preschool teachers.

What happens during the intervention?

  • Teachers attend training to learn about the curriculum and the learning trajectories for each mathematical topic.
  • Learning Trajectories is the core of the Building Blocks/TRIAD curriculum. The print materials provide information on children's development along the trajectories, the instructional activities move the children through developmental levels to meet learning goals.
  • Children (aged 3 – 4) are taught the Building Blocks/TRIAD curriculum through software and print material.
  • The curriculum is aimed at developing children's geometric thinking, spatial skills, measurement, understanding of patterns and more.

What are the implementation requirements?

Who can deliver it?

  • Building Blocks/TRIAD is delivered by trained teachers in preschool, with a minimum of NFQ-level 6 qualifications.


What are the training requirements?

  • The practitioners have between 2-6 days of programme training.  Booster training of practitioners is recommended. 

How are the practitioners supervised?

Practitioner supervision is provided through the following processes: 

  • It is recommended that practitioners are supervised for a total of 24 hours per full programme delivery by one host agency supervisor (qualified to NFQ level 7/8), with 8 hours of programme training.


What are the systems for maintaining fidelity?

Programme fidelity is maintained through the following processes:

  • Training manual
  • Other printed material
  • Other online material
  • Video or DVD training
  • Face-to-face training
  • Fidelity monitoring. 

Is there a licensing requirement?

There is a licence required to run this programme.


How does it work? (Theory of Change)

How does it work?

  • High-quality curriculum-based educational experiences increase young children's mathematics competencies.
  • The Building Blocks curriculum provides multiple resources to support teachers in providing high-quality educational experiences to young children.
  • In the short term, children increase their mathematical knowledge (concepts and processes).
  • In the longer term, children also develop language and executive function competencies, and those who are most at risk for school have higher achievement in  mathematics.

Intended outcomes

  • Achieving in all areas of learning and development

Contact details

Kelsey Jenkins
Product Marketing Manager Building Blocks/TRIAD
kelsey.jenkins@mheducation.com

https://www.mheducation.com/prek-12/program/building-blocks-pre-k-20132013/MKTSP-TMB01M0.html?page=1&sortby=title&order=asc&bu=seg

www.triadscaleup.org


About the evidence

Building Block’s most rigorous evidence comes from a cluster RCT which was conducted in the US (study 1a).

This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of children.

This programme has evidence from at least one rigorously conducted RCT along with evidence from an additional comparison group study.  Consequently, the programme receives a 3+ rating overall.

Study 1a

Citation:Clements et al., 2011 Sarama et al., 2012 Watts et al., 2017
Design:Cluster RCT
Country:United States
Sample:1305 children enrolled in Pre-Kindergarten Schools
Timing:Post-test
Child outcomes:
    Other outcomes:
      Study rating:3

      Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., Spitler, M. E., Lange, A. A., & Wolfe, C. B. (2011). Mathematics learned by young children in an intervention based on learning trajectories: A large-scale cluster randomized trial. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 42(2), 127-166.

      Available at
      https://www.nctm.org/Publications/Journal-for-Research-in-Mathematics-Education/2011/Vol42/Issue2/Mathematics-Learned-by-Young-Children-in-an-Intervention-Based-on-Learning-Trajectories_-A-Large-Scale-Cluster-Randomized-Trial/

      Sarama, J., Lange, A., Clements, D. H., & Wolfe, C. B. (2012). The impacts of an early mathematics curriculum on oral language and literacy. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27(3), 489–502.

      Available at
      https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0885200611000937?via%3Dihub

      Watts, T. W., Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., Wolfe, C. B., Spitler, M. E., & Bailey, D. H. (2017). Does early mathematics intervention change the processes underlying children’s learning? Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 10(1), 96–115.

      Available at
      https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19345747.2016.1204640?journalCode=uree20

      Study design and sample

      The first study is a rigorously conducted RCT. 

      This study involved random assignment of children to a treatment group and a business as usual group. 

      This study was conducted in the USA, with a sample of children aged between 3 and 4. The majority of the children in the sample were low SES (85% free school meal eligibility), and were from an ethnically diverse population living mainly in poverty.

      Measures

      Maths achievement was measured using the Research-based Elementary Math Assessment (REMA) (expert observation of behaviour).

      Language skills were measured using PALS-PreK (Invernizzi, Sullivan, Swank, & Meier, 2004), MCLASS:CIRCLE (Landry, 2007), and The Renfrew Bus Story – North American Edition (RBS; Glasgow & Cowley, 1994)

      Findings

      This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes.

      This includes:

      • Maths ability
      • Language ability

      Study 1b

      Citation:Sarama et al., 2012
      Design:Cluster RCT
      Country:United States
      Sample:1218 children enrolled in Kindergarten Schools
      Timing:1-year follow-up
      Child outcomes:
        Other outcomes:
          Study rating:2+

          Sarama, J., Clements, D. H., Wolfe, C. B., & Spitler, M. E. (2012). Longitudinal evaluation of a scale-up model for teaching mathematics with trajectories and technologies. Journal of Research on Educational Effectiveness, 5(2), 105–135.

          Available at
          https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19345747.2011.627980

          Sarama et al. (2012) describes additional outcomes from study 1a described above.  In this case:

          • At a one-year follow-up, maths achievement was measured using the Research-based Elementary Math Assessment (REMA)
          • This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes. 
          • The treatment group performed significantly better than the control group on the Research-based Elementary Math Assessment (REMA).
          • The conclusions that can be drawn from the findings reported in this paper are limited by methodological issues pertaining to study attrition.

          Study 1c

          Citation:Clements et al., 2013
          Design:Cluster RCT
          Country:United States
          Sample:1079 children enrolled in Prime Grade Schools
          Timing:2-year follow-up
          Child outcomes:
            Other outcomes:
              Study rating:2+

              Clements, D. H., Sarama, J., Wolfe, C. B., & Spitler, M. E. (2013). Longitudinal evaluation of a scale-up model for teaching mathematics with trajectories and technologies: Persistence of effects in the third year. American Educational Research Journal, 50(4), 812 – 850.

              Available at
              https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0002831212469270

              Clements et al. (2013) describes additional outcomes from study 1a described above.  In this case:

              • At a two-year follow-up, maths achievement was measured using the Research-based Elementary Math Assessment (REMA)
              • This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes. 
              • The treatment group performed significantly better than the control group on the Research-based Elementary Math Assessment (REMA).
              • The conclusions that can be drawn from the findings reported in this paper are limited by methodological issues pertaining to study attrition.

              Study 2

              Citation:Clements & Sarama, 2008
              Design:Cluster RCT
              Country:United States
              Sample:253 children
              Timing:Post-test
              Child outcomes:
              • Improved maths ability
              Other outcomes:
                Study rating:2

                Clements, D. H., & Sarama, J. (2008). Experimental evaluation of the effects of a research-based preschool mathematics curriculum. American educational research journal, 45(2), 443-494.

                Available at
                https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0002831207312908

                Study design and sample

                The study was an RCT. This study involved random assignment of children to a treatment group and a business as usual group.

                This study was conducted in the USA, with a sample of children aged between 3 and 4. Many of the children attended schools that serve children from low-SES families.

                Measures

                Maths achievement was measured  using Early Mathematics Assessment (EMA) (expert observation of behaviour).

                Findings

                This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes.

                This includes:

                • Maths ability

                The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are limited by methodological issues pertaining to a lack of clarity in terms of baseline equivalence, and a lack of clarity in terms of intention-to-treat analysis, hence why a higher rating is not achieved.

                Study 3

                Citation:Clements & Sarama, 2007
                Design:QED
                Country:United States
                Sample:68 children
                Timing:Post-test
                Child outcomes:
                • Improved maths ability
                Other outcomes:
                  Study rating:2

                  Clements, D. H., & Sarama, J. (2007). Effects of a preschool mathematics curriculum: Summative research on the Building Blocks project. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 38(2), 136–163.

                  Available at
                  https://www.nctm.org/Publications/Journal-for-Research-in-Mathematics-Education/2007/Vol38/Issue2/Effects-of-a-Preschool-Mathematics-Curriculum_-Summative-Research-on-the-Building-Blocks-Project/

                  Study design and sample

                  The study was a QED study.

                  This study was conducted in the USA, with a sample of children aged 4 attending schools that serve children from low-SES families.

                  Measures

                  Maths achievement was measured using an individual interview format, with explicit protocol, coding, and scoring procedures (expert observation of behaviour).

                  Findings

                  This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes.

                  This includes:

                  • Maths ability (number & geometry test).

                  The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are limited by methodological issues pertaining to a lack of clarity in terms of baseline equivalence and a lack of clarity in terms of attrition, hence why a higher rating is not achieved.

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