Associated Press
September 19, 1997

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - Connecticut high school students enrolled in a math curriculum that focuses on real-life scenarios scored higher on their SATs than students taking traditional math courses, a study showed. Students enrolled in MATH Connections scored an average of 523 on the math portion of last spring's Scholastic Aptitude Test, compared with 504 for a group of students not enrolled in the special curriculum, according to the Cichon Group of Dover, N.H. A perfect score is 800.

The difference in scores was statistically significant, the Cichon Group said in a study it did for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, developer of the curriculum.

The Cichon Group examined the scores of students who had used the curriculum for a minimum of three years.

Both groups of students looked at in the study had received similar scores on their eighth-grade Connecticut Mastery Tests, said June G. Ellis, project director.

MATH Connections is now offered to about 4,000 students in 18 high schools. The study examined the SAT results from half of the schools.

The curriculum is intended to give students a clear idea of how math is used in the workplace as well as in people's daily lives, said Kenneth Decko, CBIA's president. Developed through a National Science Foundation grant, MATH Connections blends algebra, geometry, trigonometry, probability and statistics to show students how these math topics are related. It uses problems provided by mathematicians, scientists and CBIA-member companies.