
Psychosocial Interventions to Improve Postsecondary Student Mathematics Attainment: A Meta-Analysis Exploring What Works and for Whom
Effective Years: 2023-2026
Many college students have difficulty learning mathematics not because they are unable to learn but because they often do not believe they can perform successfully. Students’ beliefs, along with their learning-related and socially influenced needs, perceptions, goals, and strategies, often described as psychosocial factors, are key factors to their academic achievement. Because such factors are malleable, many interventions targeting psychosocial factors have been evaluated and could be implemented in college math classrooms. However, questions remain about how effective these interventions might be and how the effects of such interventions may vary. This project will address the national priority to strengthen college students’ mathematics attainment by investigating the effectiveness of psychosocial interventions. The project will collect and assess the accumulated evidence on psychosocial interventions in college mathematics. The findings from the project will help to improve mathematics outcomes for students in college, providing administrators and instructors with evidence-informed practices that can harness students’ psychosocial qualities.
The project is a comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of a large body of studies that test interventions targeting psychosocial mechanisms to improve postsecondary students’ mathematics attainment. The project aims to examine published and unpublished studies that investigated the effects of psychosocial interventions on mathematics attainment through randomized controlled trials or high-quality quasi-experimental designs. Drawing from the Model of Strategic Learning and related literature, interventions will be categorized, and intervention effects aggregated, according to the psychosocial mechanism(s) being targeted. Using a frequentist approach, the project will answer two primary research questions: What is the overall effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in college mathematics on students’ mathematics attainment and psychosocial factors? What are other sources of heterogeneity among intervention effects? This quantitative synthesis will create a rich database of studies and their effects, providing evidence about when, and to what degree, interventions alter students’ psychosocial qualities and impact students’ math outcomes. A systematic analysis will be conducted using the MUTOS framework which categorizes studies based on methods (M), units (U), treatments (T), outcomes (O), and settings (S). These categories will serve as testable moderators within random effects meta-regression models, assessing if the magnitude or direction of intervention effects vary by these characteristics. Exploring heterogeneity in treatment effects will generate insights regarding the components of successful psychosocial interventions, extend knowledge of psychological theories, and inform the design of evidence-based programs in college mathematics.
This project is supported by NSF’s EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.