In these days of accountability, the first question a school administrator must address is, "Does it Work?" In 25 years the 4MAT System has been actively used in thousands of schools and districts. We estimate that greater than a half million teachers have been exposed to the ideas of Bernice McCarthy and 4MAT.

During this time, hundreds have scientifically-based research studies have measured the impact of 4MAT in a school. The following list provides a sampling.

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.

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.

• 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.