Article Citation:
Brian C. Poncy,
Benjamin Solomon,
Gary Duhon,
Christopher Skinner,
Kathryn Moore, and
Sean Simons (
2015) An Analysis of Learning Rate and Curricular Scope: Caution When Choosing Academic Interventions Based on Aggregated Outcomes. School Psychology Review: September 2015, Vol. 44, No. 3, pp. 289-305.
An Analysis of Learning Rate and Curricular Scope: Caution When Choosing Academic Interventions Based on Aggregated Outcomes
Brian C. Poncy ,
Benjamin Solomon , and
Gary Duhon
Oklahoma State University
Christopher Skinner
University of Tennessee–Knoxville
Kathryn Moore , and Sean Simons
Oklahoma State University
Please address correspondence regarding this article to Dr. Brian C. Poncy, School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology, Oklahoma State University, 420 Willard Hall, Stillwater, OK 74078; e-mail: .
Brian C. Poncy PhD, is an associate professor of school psychology at Oklahoma State University. His research interests include academic interventions in the area of mathematics and behavioral learning theory.
Benjamin Solomon, PhD, is an assistant professor of school psychology at Oklahoma State University and clinical faculty at the Oklahoma State School Psychology Center. His interests include research methods and statistics, with a recent focus on the proper use of single-case effect size and the use of Bayesian statistics for educational decision making. Dr. Solomon is also interested in the measurement of instructional time in the classroom.
Gary Duhon PhD, is a professor of school psychology at Oklahoma State University. His research interests are in the areas of treatment integrity, academic interventions, and behavioral learning theory.
Christopher Skinner, PhD, is a professor at the University of Tennessee. His research interests include learning rate, academic interventions, single-case design, and behavioral learning theory.
Kathryn Moore is a doctoral student at Oklahoma State University.
Sean Simons is a doctoral student at Oklahoma State University.
Associate Editor: Amanda VanDerHeyden
We aggregated and analyzed single-case research targeting math-fact fluency to investigate whether learning (behavior change) data were sufficient to summarize and compare intervention outcomes or if learning rate (learning/cumulative instructional time) data would provide divergent effect size (ES) results. We also extracted the curricular scope or set size data (how many items were targeted) and evaluated the relationship with obtained ESs. The results suggest that ESs calculated without accounting for cumulative instructional time and curricular scope result in different estimates of effect than ESs that do account for cumulative instructional time and curricular scope. Discussion focuses on the importance of using learning rate and curricular scope when comparing intervention effects and limitations associated with drawing relative-effectiveness conclusions by aggregating outcomes across studies.
Received: May 16, 2014; Accepted: September 9, 2014;
Copyright 2015 by the National Association of School Psychologists
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