This report presents the second-year results from the Learning Trajectory-Oriented Formative Assessment in the Early Grades study, funded by the Heising Simons Foundation. The study explored the impact of a professional development and formative assessment system called the Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) for K-2 mathematics instruction in a set of urban elementary schools. The intervention was supported in six schools in the first year and then expanded to 15 schools in the second year. Teachers in the control condition received “business as usual” or district-provided mathematics professional development, but no OGAP training.

Results from Phase 1 of the study showed significant effects on a district-administered curriculum-based assessment of math competency for K-3 students in the six treatment schools. To evaluate the medium-term impacts of this intervention, Phase 2 of the study followed two cohorts: Cohort 1 treatment and control students were assessed after two years of implementation to determine the effects over a longer duration, while Cohort 2 students were evaluated after their first year of exposure and compared to a newly matched comparison group.

The primary focus of the second phase of the study was to (1) continue to explore the impacts on K-3 students’ math performance; (2) explore the variation in teachers’ beliefs, knowledge, perceptions of school support, time teaching math daily, and professional development and follow-up support received; (3) begin to understand how trained teachers used the knowledge gained in OGAP training to inform their use of curriculum resources for mathematics instruction.