A substantial body of research indicates that the “middle grades drop-off” in math learning can be attributed to changes between elementary and middle school in the way math teachers deliver information and relate to students. PowerTeaching i3 is grounded in cooperative learning, one of the most extensively researched and generally accepted approaches to pedagogy in mathematics. Research on cooperative learning in mathematics has found strong impacts on learning when the cooperative learning methods incorporate two key elements: group goals and individual accountability. Cooperative learning is especially effective with nonwhite, low-income students; students with limited English proficiency; and students with disabilities.

PowerTeaching currently is used in approximately 50 middle and high schools across the country. To reach the next phase of its expansion, the Success for All Foundation has proposed significant changes to its professional development model intended to reduce costs, encourage school-based ownership, and enhance sustainability. Staff members from Old Dominion University and the Success for All Foundation will train and certify local coaches, who will then provide coaching to math teachers in their own districts. Old Dominion experts in school reform, math instruction, and instructional technology will collaborate with colleagues at Johns Hopkins University to develop technologies that reduce the level of dedicated local coaching support necessary to implement PowerTeaching i3. This process should reduce per-student costs with each successive expansion. The economies of scale involved in expanding PowerTeaching i3 are so great, and the anticipated economies derived from the technology-facilitated professional development model are so powerful, that it should be possible to pass on meaningful savings to schools.

The partnership between Old Dominion University and the Success for All Foundation is using i3 funding to enable more districts and schools to adopt the PowerTeaching i3 program. The full-scale random assignment study of the impacts on middle school students produced by PowerTeaching i3 will include 53 middle schools across five districts. The programs will receive technical assistance and support from the 2013-2014 school year through the 2015-2016 school year to help ensure solid implementation.