This booklet contains information and resources to plan for reading and mathematics improvement goals for elementary, middle/junior high, and high schools in the Washington public schools according to the Academic Achievement and Accountability Commission and the results of the 2001 Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL). This booklet…

Using the international database of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), this study estimated the effect of class size on student performance in 18 countries, combining school fixed effects and instrumental variables to identify random class-size variation between 2 adjacent grades within individual schools. Conventional…

At the request of the Massachusetts Department of Education, Achieve, Inc., conducted an evaluation of the state's K-12 mathematics standards and grade 10 Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) tests in English language arts and mathematics during the spring and summer of 2001. The state's English Language Arts standards were not…

The purpose of the Idaho Direct Mathematics Assessment (DMA) is to measure Idaho students' mathematical problem-solving skills, including their ability to apply basic skills to problem-solving situations as stated in the Idaho Achievement Standards document. Problem solving is valued as an essential tool for success in a complex, modern world. The…

Since the 1960s, gender differences in mathematics performance have been a major topic in educational and mathematical research. This study entails a gender comparative analysis of students' mathematics performance as determined by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills and by the Tests of Achievement and Proficiency. In a public school system in rural…

The knowledge and use of mathematics is essential in everyone's life; therefore, learning mathematics is central to elementary and secondary education. American students, however, continue to lag behind their world peers in mathematics achievement. Furthermore, substantial achievement gaps exist between groups of these students. The Learning First…

This report describes a program for increasing class achievement by raising the motivational level of adolescents. The targeted population consisted of high school mathematics students from a metropolitan area located in central Illinois. The problem of low motivation level found in the targeted students was documented by student surveys. Evidence…

This report describes a program for improving attitudes towards mathematics and problem solving in order to improve performance in these areas. The targeted population consists of two high school geometry classes. The school is located in a western suburb of a major mid-western city. The problems of negative attitudes towards mathematics and…

In the popular view, somehow, rural schools often just do not measure up. The world over, rural schools generally get short shrift in the allocation of resources and prestige, their lack of urbanness often a self-fulfilling indicator of deficiency. As a result perhaps, rural students may perform, on average, less well than others in terms of…

Over 400 bilingual Hispanic students in grades four and five took the same mathematics achievement test in Spanish and English. Students performed better when tested in English than in Spanish and when tested on concepts than on applications. (MNS)

Summarizes research from the California Assessment Program (1980) and the Foundation for Child Development (1976) concerning the relationship between student academic achievement and television viewing habits. Television in children's lives today and academic achievement--reading, mathematics, written expression--are discussed. Four references are…

Describes computer program designed to diagnose student arithmetic achievement in following categories: number concepts, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Capabilities of the program are discussed, including immediate diagnosis, tailored testing, test security (unique tests generated), generative responses (nonmultiple choice),…

Research on the cognitive components of academic achievement subjected White South African schoolchildren to several visual perception tests. Results indicated an association between measures of visual perception and tests of reading and arithmetic performance. Cognitive complexity emerged as an important differentiating feature of perceptual…

Selected mathematics education research on the role and nature of women in mathematics is reviewed. Studies are quoted which indicate that there are no inherent factors which keep girls from learning mathematics at the same level as boys, and that intervention programs can be effective. (MP)

National assessment data on student performance in several phases of algebra are reported. It is noted that this performance has not reached the point of mastery even for most students with two years of algebra and a year of geometry. However, the data are not thought to suggest complete failure. (MP)