- Results found success of Railside school, where the mathematics department taught heterogeneous classes using a reform-oriented approach. Compared with the other two schools in the study, Railside students learned more, enjoyed mathematics more and progressed to higher mathematics levels.
- Railside students started at significantly lower levels and ended Year 2 at significantly higher levels.
- The Railside mathematics teachers were also extremely successful at reducing the achievement gap between groups of students belonging to different ethnic groups at the school.
- In addition to high achievement, the students at Railside also enjoyed mathematics more than the students in the other approach.
- In terms of future plans, all of the students interviews at Railside intended to pursue more mathematics courses compared with 67% of students from the traditional classes, and 39% of Railside students planned a future in mathematics compared.
- Students at Railside reported that they learned to value students who came from very different backgrounds to themselves because of the approach of their mathematics classes.
- Railside followed a practice of ‘block scheduling’ and lessons were 90 minutes long, with courses taking place over half a school year, rather than a full academic year. In Railside, the students could take two mathematics classes each year. This meant that students could fail classes, start at lower levels, and/or choose not to take mathematics in a particular semester and still reach calculus. Curriculum in Railside emphasized on groupworthy problems (those that illustrate important mathematical concepts, allow for multiple representations, include tasks that draw effectively on the collective resources of a group, and have several possible solution paths”.
- At Railside the teachers employed additional strategies to make groupwork successful. They adopted an approach called complex instruction designed by Cohen and Lotan for use in all subject areas. The system is designed to counter social and academic status differences in classrooms, starting from the premise that status differences do not emerge because of particular students but because of group interactions. The recommended practices included in this approach are: multidimensional classrooms, roles, assigning competence, teaching students to be responsible for each other’s learning.
- In addition teachers in Railside high school had high cognitive demands for the children , teachers emphasized that high achievement in mathematics was a product of hard work and not of innate ability, they also had very clear expectations and learning practices that were clearly explained to students.