The Use of Motivational Strategies to Enhance Academic Outcomes of Cover, Copy, and Compare Mathematics Intervention

There is a need to increase mathematics achievement in U.S. schools, as only 41% of students in Grade 4, 34% of students in Grade 8, and 25% of students in Grade 12 have reached proficiency in mathematics (NAEP, 2019). Building acquisition and fluency with basic math facts has been identified as an important indicator of math achievement, as this may free cognitive resources for higher order problem solving (Carr, Taasoobshirazi, Stroud, & Royer, 2011; Geary, 2004; Gerten & Chard, 1999). Cover, Copy, and Compare (CCC) is one intervention that has been shown to help students build math fact fluency. However, a small number of participants in some studies have not responded to CCC (e.g., Lee & Tingstrom, 1994; Poncy et al., 2012), which highlights the need to identify specific intervention components that could potentially increase outcomes for these students. Motivational strategies are one potential avenue for increasing intervention outcomes. The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC, 2009) recommends the use of motivational strategies in math interventions, such as reinforcement and self-monitoring strategies, but points out that research in this area is limited. The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes of CCC Alone, CCC with Reinforcement (CCC-R), and CCC with Goal Setting and Graphing Progress to a baseline condition. A modified alternating treatments design was employed. Data were analyzed using visual analysis and ADISO effect sizes were calculated to compare outcomes between treatment phases. Results indicated that CCC Alone was effective overall at increasing math fact fluency, although not all students demonstrated growth greater than the No Treatment phase. Comparisons between the CCC Alone and CCC-R phase indicated mixed results with some students demonstrating more growth with CCC-R and others with CCC Alone. Overall, it appeared that the goal setting and graphing progress intervention was the most effective based on ADISO effect size data