Purpose: This qualitative case study explored the best practices of differentiation of Tier 1 instruction within a multi-tiered system of support for English Language Learners who were predominately Spanish speaking. Theoretical Framework: The zone of proximal development theory, cognitive theory, and the affective filter hypothesis guided this…

Results from a study of 16 community college students are presented. The research question concerned how students reasoned about p-values. Students' approach to p-values in hypothesis testing was procedural. Students viewed p-values as something that one compares to alpha values in order to arrive at an answer and did not attach much meaning to…

Two studies were conducted to examine and compare the construct validity of scores on the Junior Metacognition Awareness Inventory (JMAI) and problem-solving interview protocols. Participants consisted of 183 middle and high school students attending a university summer program for academically talented youth. Study 1 results indicated that JMAI…

Background: This paper describes the Problem-Solving Cycle model of professional development and the Mathematics Leadership Preparation model of PD leader preparation. These models form the backbone of our current research-practice partnership project in which we are working with a large urban district to adapt these models to develop district…

Specialized secondary schools in the United States focusing on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) are becoming commonplace in the United States. Such schools are generally referred to by U.S. teachers as Academies. In a purposeful effort to provide a resource to educators building new STEM Academies, this study provides both a…

Using the Gap Analysis problem-solving framework (Clark & Estes, 2008), this project examined collaboration around student achievement at the school site leadership level in the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD). This project is one of three concurrent studies focused on collaboration around student achievement in the PUSD that include…

Using the Gap Analysis problem-solving framework (Clark & Estes, 2008), this study examined collaboration around student achievement at the central office leadership level in the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD). This study is one of three concurrent studies focused on collaboration around student achievement in the PUSD that include…

Using the Gap Analysis problem-solving framework (Clark & Estes, 2008), this project examined collaboration around student achievement in the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) from the teacher perspective. As part of a tri-level study, two other projects examined collaboration around student achievement in PUSD from the perspectives of…

This article reports on students' problem-solving approaches across three representations--number lines, coordinate planes, and function graphs--the axes of which conventional mathematics treats in terms of consistent geometric and numeric coordinations. I consider these representations to be a part of a "hierarchical representational…

This study examined teacher and administrator perspectives in regards to the adoption and implementation of an elementary mathematics teaching approach called Cognitively Guided Instruction (CGI), at three elementary school sites of a rural elementary school district, located in the Central Valley of California. A holistic exploratory case study…

This study explored the effectiveness of a unique math intervention program in a local school district in Orange County, California in terms of academic achievement and student perceptions about their math abilities as a result of their experiences in the program. As the predominate instructional approach, the program provided students with…

Reasoning and constructing mathematical explanations for an audience have become increasingly important activities in elementary classrooms with the implementation of reform-oriented curriculum and standards. Mobile learning tools and applications, such as screencasts, allow students to generate multimedia presentations of their solution…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify and describe strategies used by public school superintendents and local teacher union presidents to foster and maintain collaborative relationships. Methodology: The participants in the present study were 10 California public school superintendents and 10 local teacher union presidents purposively…

An activity for eliciting student involvement in collaborative decision-making and problem-solving with adults--the student listening circle workshop--is examined for the first time through an experimental study of its effects on participating students. A student listening circle is a facilitated focus group in which students articulate to adults…

Policymakers and education scholars recommend incorporating mathematical modeling into mathematics education. Limited implementation of modeling instruction in schools, however, has constrained research on how students learn to model, leaving unresolved debates about whether modeling should be reified and explicitly taught as a competence, whether…