The project is to develop and evaluate longitudinal models that examine what and how students learn in the school setting. With a focus on mathematics, it draws on a unique data set gathered by the existing Promoting Rigorous Outcomes in Mathematics/Science Education (PROM/SE) project. This Comprehensive NSF/Math and Science Partnership (MSP) effort involving over 300,000 students in grades 3 through 12 and approximately 4,000 teachers in over 50 districts from the states of Michigan and Ohio collected data over the past 4 years, 2004-2008. It consists of multi-grade curriculum measurements at different time points of (a) student knowledge in multiple content topics and of (b) student's opportunity to learn those topics. The sample of students mirrors that of the nation both in demographics and socio-economic factors.

The longitudinal models will involve three important issues: the exposure to important mathematics content students experience over time, (ii) the change in student mathematics knowledge in specific curricular sensitive content areas over time, and iii) how the relationship between these two changes. This enables researchers to develop statistical models and evaluate them for three different longitudinal designs: i) one for synthetic cohorts involving multi-grade measurements at a single time point; ii) a second for true grade cohorts with repeated measurements at multiple time points; and iii) an individual longitudinal model involving repeated measurements at multiple time points.

The longitudinal models incorporate three important educational issues : i) students opportunity to learn (OTL) curriculum content, i.e., the exposure students experience over time, ii) the change in student achievement in specific content areas over time, and iii) the relationship between OTL and achievement. The fit with the statistical models developed for each is to be explored, and compared and contrasted for results and conclusions that lead to policy implications. The results promise to inform a national model for the improvement of student achievement.