School/District Letter of Interest

Exhibit B. Letter of Interest

Dear Drs. Martin & Millwood,

After reviewing a description of your study, The Effect of Connected Mathematics 2 (CM2) on the Math Achievement of Middle School Students in Selected Schools in the Mid-Atlantic Region: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial, and associated documents, the ______ School would like to participate in your research project. Currently, we are using the _______________________________ 6^th grade mathematics curriculum and _______________________________supporting materials.

{Schools can provide a brief summary of their student population and other initiatives that they have participated in.}

We are committed to excellence in learning and would like to participate in the Connected Mathematics 2 curriculum in our 6^th grade classrooms. We have not used Connected Mathematics or Connected Mathematics 2 in our elementary schools and expect approximately {NNN} students in ____ classrooms at the sixth grade level in the academic years 2008-09 and 2009-10. We have been advised of the procedures that will be followed including:

1. If randomly selected for the intervention group, our teachers can attend 5 days of professional development in the summer 2008 from Pearson, the developers of Connected Mathematics, and two additional professional development events using trainers provided by Pearson at the expense of the Regional Lab and conducted in accordance with normal school professional development schedules and practices.

2. If randomly selected for the intervention group, our teachers will use the Connected Mathematics 2 curriculum as the core mathematics curriculum for the academic years 2008-09 and 2009-10.

3. If randomly selected for the control group, our teachers will not use the Connected Mathematics or Connected Mathematics 2 curriculum for the academic years 2008-09 and 2009-10. Control teachers also agree to a brief teacher survey and to host 3 site visits for the 2009-10 academic year.

4. If randomly selected for the intervention group, our teachers will host 3 site visits for the 2009-10 academic year, respond to a brief teacher survey, and respond to a short online questionnaire each month about their experience with Connected Mathematics 2.

5. Our teachers will devote 100 minutes of class time, in the fall and spring of the academic year 2009-10, for students to take achievement and engagement assessments for this study.

We have reviewed the human subjects protocols provided by the Lab Extension Specialist and have received permission from our School Board to proceed with this project. We understand that responses to this data collection will be used only for statistical purposes. The reports prepared for this study will summarize findings across the sample and will not associate responses with a specific district or individual. We will not provide information that identifies you or your district to anyone outside the study team, except as required by law.

Sincerely,

Superintendent