This manual provides guidance and documentation for users of the longitudinal kindergarten-fourth grade (K-4) public-use data file of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011), which includes the first release of the public version of the third-grade data. This manual mainly provides information specific…

Some fourth, fifth and sixth grade students in a rural Pennsylvania school district are not achieving at a proficient level and have low self-efficacy in reading. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between teacher implemented mastery orientation goals, students' judgment of their ability to perform the task of reading…

The purpose of the study was to determine whether or not elementary classroom teachers' exploration of an integrated theoretical model of formative assessment would change participants' understandings of formative assessment and whether or not participants would apply this newly-acquired knowledge to their classroom assessment practices. After…

This article reports descriptive findings of a qualitative investigation of early-career teachers' perceptions of their preparedness to teach diverse learners in high-need, high-potential urban schools. Interviews revealed new teachers' insights into their teacher preparation programs and the challenging expectations involved in teaching diverse…

A new line of research has emerged that examines the prevalence rates of mixed methods within disciplines in the social/behavioral sciences. Research presented in this article is unique in that it examines prevalence rates across multiple disciplines using an established cross-disciplinary classification scheme. Results indicate that there are…

Incomplete or missing data is a common problem in almost all areas of empirical research. It is well known that simple and ad hoc methods such as complete case analysis or mean imputation can lead to biased and/or inefficient estimates. The method of maximum likelihood works well; however, when the missing data mechanism is not one of missing…

Software metrics are measures of software products and processes. Metrics are widely used by software organizations to help manage projects, improve product quality and increase efficiency of the software development process. However, metrics programs tend to have a high failure rate in organizations, and developer pushback is one of the sources…

Reasoning about and making sense of statistics and probability are essential to students' future success. This volume belongs to a series that supports National Council of Teachers of Mathematics' (NCTM's) "Focus in High School Mathematics: Reasoning and Sense Making" by providing additional guidance for making reasoning and sense making part of…

The purpose of this review is to integrate and summarize specific measurement topics (instrument and metric choice, validity, reliability, how many and what types of days, reactivity, and data treatment) appropriate to the study of youth physical activity. Research quality pedometers are necessary to aid interpretation of steps per day collected…

In the journal "The Chronicle of Higher Education," an article by Geoffrey Nunberg criticizes Google's Book Search (GBS), emphasizing that disturbing errors are endemic. He recognizes that for mainstream "googling" purposes, "they don't really care about metadata provided by a library catalog." In perhaps his most discouraging point, linguistics…

On a mid-week day in mid-December 2008, Boston Day and Evening Academy's room 209, usually used for board meetings, student assessments, awards dinners, and other occasions requiring an intimate atmosphere, smelled like Chinese food. These second-trimester students at Boston Day and Evening Academy (BDEA) were having a reunion after just a few…

In recent years there has been a move towards the strengthening of teaching and research links in the undergraduate curriculum. Inquiry-based learning offers an opportunity for students to engage in research tasks and consequently students can develop valuable research skills, as well as working on projects aligned to staff research interests.…

An open field--with its wildflowers, grasses, and vole tunnels--became an instant classroom. Students' senses were awakened there, and upon entering a nearby forest, they immediately detected a difference: less light and cooler air. "Why are there no grasses in the forest? Why aren't there ferns in the field?" These and other questions emerged as…

For this experiment, students are divided into 2 groups and presented with a static equilibrium force-balance problem to solve. One group works entirely experimentally and the other group theoretically, using Newton's laws. The groups present their seemingly dissimilar results and must reconcile them through discussion. (Contains 3 figures.)

We discuss the results of a study aimed at shedding light on the influence that the sharing of professional teaching experiences may have on teachers' professional learning. The focus is on the uses that participants make of their notes about their lesson planning experience in an in-service blended learning course, and the mediation strategies…