Too often, the value of culturally responsive and sustaining education (CRSE) is limited to addressing student motivation and engagement rather than being seen as valuable for academic achievement and rigorous student learning. This brief calls on education leaders to prioritize a broader range of outcomes, including students' development of…

Doors to other educational opportunities and future professions are closed when students have a low motivational profile in mathematics starting in elementary school and continue with an unchanged profile into high school (Lazarides et al., 2020). Students must learn how to increase their mathematical self-efficacy in order to increase their…

Based on investment theories and guided by Mussel's (2013) intellect model, the present study investigated reciprocal relations over 1 year (2021-2022) between investment traits (need for cognition, achievement motives, epistemic curiosity) and fluid and crystallized cognitive abilities in 565 German elementary school children (298 girls;…

The typical mathematical experience often prioritizes achievement with little regard for the emotional disposition of the student. Despite this relentless focus, overall performance in mathematics has shown little improvement. Additionally, the surge in demand for professionals with mathematical skills highlights a concerning disparity in…

Students' understanding of the meaning of the equal sign develops slowly over the primary grades. In addition to updating their representations of equations to recognize that the equal sign represents an equivalence relation rather than signaling an operation, students need to move beyond full computation to efficiently solve equivalence problems.…

Dimensional comparisons (i.e., comparing own performances across domains) may drive an increasing differentiation in students' math and verbal self-concepts over time, but little longitudinal research has directly tested this assumption. Using cross-sequential data spanning Grades 1-12 (N = 1069, ages 6-18, 92% White, 2% Black, 51% female,…

We evaluate the effects of grade retention on students' academic, attendance, and disciplinary outcomes in Indiana. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that third-grade retention increases achievement in English Language Arts (ELA) and math immediately and substantially, and the effects persist into middle school. We find no evidence…

We evaluated a curriculum that focused on bolstering grit and locus of control in seventh grade students at a school in upstate New York. The intervention included lessons aimed at building a growth mindset and determination, along with writing projects and collaborative work. A pre-post design was utilized such that surveys measuring grit and…

Four-day school weeks are becoming increasingly common in the U.S., but their effect on achievement is not well-understood. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we conduct the most representative student-level analysis to date of the effects of four-day weeks on student achievement and within-year growth using NWEA MAP Growth data. We…

In this 21st century context, communities and nations cannot afford to lose the talents of any young people. Shifts in thinking and practices are needed: from one-dimensional definitions to varied talents and 21st century skills of creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication; from identification to assessment; from the goal of…

This study reports achievement and growth from kindergarten to 4th grade for three groups of English Learners (ELs): (a) ever-ELs; (b) ELs consistently eligible for service; and (c) EL and Special Education dually-identified students. All three EL groups had lower test scores than never-ELs throughout K-4. In math, ELs grew more than never-ELs…

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education is considered critical and valid for the modern workforce which is strongly enveloped in technology. Therefore, it is imperative to reinforce science and math education and knowledge among students early in their educations. Despite this understanding, most research has focused on the…

Background: Research on academic development has mainly focused on early time periods with less attention on individual differences in development in the later school years. Methods: To improve our knowledge of how students develop academically during later school years, this study used a multivariate growth model to investigate the developmental…

In this chapter, we explore group counseling interventions for Black males and explain the Achieving Success Everyday (ASE) group model for racial and mathematical development. We use critical race theory (CRT) as a framework to analyze school counseling (SC) and mathematics literature that focuses on Black male students to inform the…

Math achievement is an important predictor of progression to later science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and careers. However, attitudinal factors also play a role, and interventions attempting to improve math attitudes may be important for increasing the number of STEM-aspiring students. To design effective interventions, it…