Effectiveness of project COUNTS in improving students’ numeracy skills

Abstract

Students with learning difficulties benefit from intervention programs. Hence, this experimental research examined the effectiveness of Project COUNTS (Capacitating, Optimizing and Upgrading the Numeracy skills of The Students), a mathematics intervention program, and a continuous improvement venture in a public school in the Philippines during the academic year 2020–2021. It specifically investigated the numeracy skills pretest and posttest performances and its difference, and the difference in the pretest and posttest according to profiles. This experimental study utilized the data from 175 randomly selected grade 8 (91) and grade 9 (84) students under the low-numerate and non-numerate categories through multi-stage sampling. The study utilized the mean, standard deviation, dependent samples z-test, independent samples z-test, and one-way ANOVA. The results showed that the participants’ numeracy skills pretest and posttest performance reached low-numerate (x̄=15.95, SD=3.30) and numerate (x̄=23.27, SD=3.21) levels, respectively. There is a significant difference in the participants’ posttest performance when grouped according to their sex (z=2.84, p=0.00); females (x̄=24.04, SD=3.22) have better performance than males (x̄=22.57, SD=3.04). There was a statistically significant difference in the pretest and posttest performances (z=-11.38, p<0.001), thus confirming the intervention program’s effectiveness (large effect size) in improving the numeracy skills of students. Teachers, school heads and superiors, students and parents/guardians, and future researchers can replicate or apply the intervention program to other sets of learners.