With over 31 year history, numerous articles and studies have been published on the positive impact of 4MAT. Here is just a small sampling of the research on 4MAT and its impact on students and teachers alike.

RESEARCH EXCERPTS

Sangster and Shulman conducted a study in two school systems in Canada. They interviewed 571 students and 31 teachers who had used the 4MAT system. According to this research, 90% of teachers had interest in teaching additional 4MAT units. The student response was also very positive with 71% reporting they found the 4MAT units more enjoyable than their regular instruction. 60% of students felt they learned more and 62% wanted to take additional classes that used 4MAT.

In Fairfax County schools, research on a 4MAT project implementation found:

· Significant avancements in the teacher's perception of their knowledge, skills and attitudes towards learning when using 4MAT.

· A study of 18 teachers and 400 students was performed on a 4MAT geometry unit. In comparing the pre-test and post-test results, the 4MAT group significantly outperformed the control group by an average of additional 14 points. This unit was also found to increase student interest and enjoyment.

· In a study of 10 pre-algebra teachers and 173 at-risk math students, the 4MAT group outperformed the control group by 16 points.

A recent study from professors at Central Connecticut State University found significant improvements in both teacher and student attitudes prior to and after 4MAT. The results of this research were published in the May/June, 2010 issue of College Teaching magazine.

In a teacher efficacly study of 120 teachers trained over a six-month period, the 4MAT training "significantly influenced teachers' sense of internal efficacy. According to the researcher, "When studying the interviews, it became apparent that the process and the content of the workshop were intimately connected in the teachers' minds. For these teachers, the workshop was an integration of theory and method, such that the theory was instilled in the process."

This research also states that "Teachers revised their judgment of certain students because of the workshop experience. Exposure to the 4MAT material prompted all the teachers to reevaluate their perception of their students both in terms of how they judged ability and how they defined problem students."

In a study performed by a researcher to compare 4MAT to the instruction women were being given for breast cancer, found significant improvements for the 4MAT Approach over a traditional approach. 4MAT achieved a 104% increase in retention, while the traditional training method achieved a 43% increase.

4MAT is also unique in that it is grounded in its theoretical base, which is very strong. The 4MAT process is thoroughly researched, and grounded in the work of numerous educational researchers. Because you do not want to leave the quality of student learning to chance.

Want to See More?

To learn more about the full range of articles, research and background on 4MAT, please contact About Learning at (800) 822-4MAT. We look forward to speaking with you!

Why 4MAT?

Research demonstrates it again and again. The process teachers use to teach is the most crucial factor in raising student performance. What teachers do in the classroom is what matters the most.

New research from Richard Elmore shows that classroom teaching methods accounts for 60% of the impact on student test score gains. So, it is not so much the parents or the culture, or the leadership but what teachers ask students to do when they are learning something new.

In a large-scale, longtitudinal study by William Sanders among Tennessee teachers and students, the Teacher Effect was the most signficant factor in student achievement. One of his key recommendations was "the development and implementation of strategies which lead to improved teacher effectiveness." He goes on to say that "more can be done to improve education by improving the effectiveness of teachers than by any other single factor."

How teacher's facililtate learning is the most essential factor in achieving instructional excellence. So if you are not attending to this crucial factor, you may be missing your greatest opportunity to improve the quality and impact of learning in the classroom.

But maybe the most potent reason why involves the perceptions of high school dropouts. Research from the Gates Foundation has found that the two major reasons that students drop are tied back to the quality of learning in the classroom. 69% of high scool dropouts were not motivated or inspired to do hard work while 47% said the classes were not interesting.

4MAT offers a way of overcoming these issues. Please call us at (800) 822-4MAT to explore the how we can work with your organization to help overcome these challenges.

Project Overview

• 3-Year Implementation Program to train teachers and administrators to use 4MAT to improve classroom instruction.
• 900 Teachers and administrators in Yonkers have had 4MAT Professional Development Training.
• 150 Teachers have had small group or individual coaching in 4MAT unit plan design and development.
• Key research questions, included:
  
  • What was accomplished from training?
  • What were the reactions to 4MAT project activities?
  • What impact has 4MAT had on student achievement?

District Profile and Demographic Data

• Yonkers School District is the fourth largest in New York, with 29 elementary schools, five middle schools and five high schools.
• Yonkers School District has 25,298 students, with 30.1% African American, 42.7% Hispanic, 16% White and 6.8% Asian, Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaskan.
• 68.9% of students receive free and reduced lunch.
• Yonkers has 1,811 teachers in the district.

Teacher and Administrator Perceptions and usage of 4MAT

• Approximately 80% of teachers actively recognize the 4MAT concepts of instruction.
• 70% of teachers were actively using 4MAT in the classroom.
• 60% of teachers saw improvements in student engagement by using 4MAT.
• ALL administrators interviewed were enthusiastic about the
• 4MAT strategies for effective teaching and learning.
• Administrators said that 4MAT provided a common language that led to increased conversations with and among teachers about effective teaching strategies.

Recommendations for Improving Program Effectiveness

• New teachers should receive 4MAT awareness training at beginning of the year.
• 4MAT Curriculum writing efforts should concentrate on one grade level or subject area.
• 4MAT Coaching in the classroom is critical
• 4MAT planners need to work with Principals to create common planning time for teachers.
• 4MAT Implementation should be planned with Principals early in the year to meet the unique needs of each school involved in implementation.

8th Grade English & Math Student Test Scores (4MAT vs. non-4MAT Teachers)

8th Grade Science and Social Studies Student Test Scores (4MAT vs. non-4MAT Teachers)

7th Grade Reading/Language and Math Student Test Scores (4MAT vs. non-4MAT Trained Teachers)

Argyris, Chris. Reasoning, Learning, and Action: Individual and Organizational. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1982.

Bateson, Gregory. Mind and Nature, A Necessary Unity. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1979.

Belenky, Mary Field, Blythe McVicker Clinchy, Nancy Rule Goldberger and Jill Mattuck Tarule. Women’s Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice and Mind. New York: Basic Books, 1986.

Benbow, C. P. and D. Lubinski. "Psychological Profile of the Mathematically Talented: Some Sex Differences and Evidence Supporting Their Biological Basis," in Women, Men, and Gender, Editor M. Walsh. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997.

Bennis, Warren and Burt Nanus. Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge. New York: Harper and Row, 1985.

Benson, F. D. and E. Zaidel, Editors. The Dual Brain: Hemispheric Specialization in Humans. New York: The Guilford Press, 1985.

Bogen, Joseph. The Other Side of the Brain: An Appositional Mind. Bulletin of the Los Angeles Neurological Society, No 34. 1969.

Bogue, E. Grady. The Enemies of Leadership: Lesson for Leaders in Education. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa, 1985.

Bradshaw, John and Norman Nettleton. Human Cerebral Asymmetry. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1983.

Bruner, Jerome S. The Process of Education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960.

• Overall performance of the 4MAT pairings was superior to the performance of the non-4MAT control groups.
• Six out of eight 4MAT groups significantly out performed their non-4MAT cohorts on a measure of academic performance.
• Eight out of eight comparisons of post-tests reveal that the 4MAT classes report higher raw and adjusted means than did their matched control classes.
• In the analysis of retention scores, 4MAT classes had higher raw means in eight out of eight comparisons than control classes.
• This study was designed to determine if differences exist in the academic performance and/or retention levels of students taught using The 4MAT Model when compared to students taught using a traditional or non-specified teaching methodology. The results of this study are particularly important in that the gains reported by the experimental 4MAT teachers were accomplished, not in a lab school setting, but in a school district which is, by most standards, very challenging. The fact that Paterson Public Schools, by mandate, have been taken over by the state of New Jersey in an effort to correct long-standing deficiencies speaks for itself. However, in spite of those deficiencies, this study demonstrates that teachers, adequately trained and supported can make a difference.

Rusch Elementary is a K-6 Elementary school in rural Wisconsin with 18 full-time teachers and 268 EC-6 grade students. In January of 1999, the teachers and administrators at Rusch submitted a Comprehensive School Reform Grant with 4MAT as its key component.

Dyann Miller, Director of Instruction for Portage Community Schools in Wisconsin describes the role of 4MAT in the CSR Project: "4MAT combines the fundamental principles of several long-standing theories of personal development with current research on brain function and learning. This framework provides a structure for re framing traditional teaching and assessment strategies."

4MAT methods and objectives, consistent with research, are intended to change the school by changing the behaviors of the people that are vital to that school, beginning with its teachers. 4MAT also provides an organizational framework for dealing with the entire instructional system.