Education Endowment Foundation:Mathematics Mastery Secondary

Many aspects of mathematics mastery programmes are aligned with evidence on high quality maths teaching, including the use of manipulativesobjects that educators and children can move and interact with to represent mathematical ideas (including fingers, everyday objects, such as buttons or pine cones, and mathematical resources such as Numicon, Cuisenaire rods). and representations, emphasis on mathematical structure and a focus on teaching problem solving strategies.

EEF trialled this specific programme at efficacy level. This means EEF have trialled this programme in a smaller number of schools in best possible conditions. The independent evaluation found that Y7 pupils in schools adopting Ark Mathematics Mastery made, on average, one-month additional progress compared to other pupils in comparison schools. These results have a high security rating: 4 out of 5 on the EEF padlock scale, meaning we are confident that this difference was due to the intervention and not to other factors. The result was similar when looking only at children eligible for free school meals. The analysis suggests that the programme may be more effective for low attaining students.

In addition, an FFT Education Data Lab quasi-experimental design (QED) study explored the potential impact of the Mathematics Mastery secondary programme using data from the National Pupil Database on GCSE outcomes. This evaluation contained a small number of schools, and the design means that it is less rigorous than the EEF trial. Findings were mixed but the largest cohort indicated that pupils in Mathematics Mastery schools made one months’ additional progress.

Taken together, these results have led EEF to designate this as a ​‘Promising Programme’.

For the version trialled, headteachers, maths coordinators and class teachers received one or two days of launch training and two in-school development visits. In addition, teachers attended three cluster workshops with teachers from other schools that were implementing the same curriculum. The most recent iteration of the programme involves one day of induction training for all teachers, two in-person school support visits, remote sessions with the lead at the school, and the opportunity to join additional PD training throughout the year with other schools.

In the trial, teachers had access to an online toolkit which included​lesson plans, continuous professional development resources, and assessments. The most recent iteration of the programme contains 30 weeks of fully planned lessons each academic year, sectioned into units (with all lessons structured in the same six-part format). Each unit has a tutorial for teachers, professional development videos, and is resourced with planning guides, task sheets, lesson slides and exemplification materials. Standardised assessments are provided for each term and end of year, focused on key constructs.

Ark Curriculum Plus now provide different ​‘tiers’ of support appropriate for different stages in a school’s mastery development. The version EEF trialled is closest to the highest tier of support ​‘Tailored’, which Ark Curriculum Plus recommend for schools in their first few years of implementation.