CSCOPE's effect on Texas' state mandated standardized test scores in mathematics.

The purpose of the study was to examine standardized test scores of school districts in the state of Texas that have implemented CSCOPE, a popular curriculum management system, in an effort to determine what effect, if any, its implementation has had. The standardized test used in the state of the Texas is titled the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). This study used a sample size of 56 school districts and included test scores from over 125 individual campuses. Archival TAKS data were collected from the 2007-2008, 2008-2009, and 2009-2010 school years for grades 3-8 to compared mean passing percentages between those schools that had used CSCOPE for three consecutive years and those schools that did not. The study also collected TAKS data from grades 3-11 to compare commended performance percentages between those schools that had used CSCOPE for three consecutive years and those schools that did not. The results of this study discovered that CSCOPE had a statistically significant (p < .05) effect on mathematics TAKS scores when comparing the mean passing percentages of all students in grades 3-8. The study also revealed that CSCOPE appeared to have a statistically significant (p < .05) effect in grades 7 and 8 when the TAKS data was disaggregated into individual grade levels. Interestingly enough, in grade 3, the schools that did not use CSCOPE significantly outperformed (p < .05) those schools that had utilized CSCOPE as their curriculum management tool. The results of the study showed mixed results in the mean percentages of students attaining commended performance. While the mean percentages of the All Students, Hispanic, and White sub-groups for the schools using CSCOPE had a higher mean commended performance percentage than the schools that did not, the differences were not statistically significant. While the results of the study were mixed, there does seem to be significant data that suggests the use of CSCOPE has improved TAKS scores of the schools that have utilized it for three consecutive years.