Performance Comparison on Other Tests
As mentioned earlier, a substantial amount of time in the IMP classroom, from 20% to 30%, is spent learning content that is not traditionally part of the high school curriculum. It seemed appropriate to verify the fact that IMP students were learning in those areas.
In Spring 1996, permission was sought from a prestigious eastern university to use a portion of the quantitative reasoning examination it gives to all entering freshmen. Passing this test or taking a special course is required for graduation. Permission was given for pilot testing for one year only, but not for release of the name of the university in discussing the data. With the use of a preliminary test, the test was shortened to ten items so that it could be administered within a single class period. This ten-item test was administered at a magnet high school on the east coast to eleventh grade IMP and algebra II students. Eighth grade standardized test scores were available for the students, so a matched group analysis was also done involving subsets of the two groups.
The mean of the full group of IMP students was significantly higher than that of the algebra II students, using analysis of variance to control for pre-test scores. Also, the IMP students in the matched group analysis significantly outperformed their counterparts (Webb and Dowling, 1997). Since permission was not given to use the test again, the study could not be replicated.