Grantee: UPchieve
Study Type: RCTs (multiple), Quasi-Experiments (multiple), Pre-Post (multiple)
Principal Investigator: UPchieve and Mathematica
Project Description: This reports on a series of small randomized controlled encouragement design studies, quasi-experiments, and pre-post studies that assessed the impact of weekly email reminders and five dollar financial incentives on (i) student take-up of UPchieve, a free online tutoring platform for economically-disadvantaged students, and (ii) student math achievement. The study samples were comprised of 99-125 ninth- and tenth-grade students over a 14-week period in late 2021 and early 2022 who were offered access to UPchieve’s math tutoring platform, some of whom were randomly assigned to receive encouragement and financial incentives to participate and others who were not, as well as those who were existing or new users outside the context of the randomization process.
Key Findings: Researchers estimated that an increase in UPchieve usage from approximately 3.5 sessions to nine sessions over a 14-week period resulted in an average increase in Star Math assessment scores of approximately 0.23 standard deviations. These findings indicate there is a 91 percent probability that an increase in UPchieve tutoring had a positive impact on students’ math knowledge; however, due to the small sample (89 students), these findings must be interpreted with caution. Researchers also found that an increase in UPchieve tutoring had positive effects on students’ motivation, as well as confidence in and engagement with math.
Study Citation: UPchieve: Final Report. UPchieve and Mathematica Policy Research, 2022. Retrieved from https://upchieve.org/impact.
The Key Findings above were reproduced from the published report and do not necessarily reflect interpretation of Overdeck Family Foundation staff.
Enhancing each stage of childhood learning, from birth to high school.
Overdeck Family Foundation focuses exclusively on education, providing funding across four focus areas that encompass the whole child from birth through high school both inside and outside the classroom.