A traditional view of mathematics learning suggests that basic fact knowledge provides a cornerstone for success in problem solving. But possibly, for some children, automated basic fact responses may be disadvantageous for their problem solving success. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between basic fact knowledge and…

Aspirations for the Chicago School Reform Act of 1988 and more recent accountability efforts for the central office indicate that the Chicago Public School (CPS) system needs a credible system for charting academic improvement. The annual systemwide reports of student test scores are crude and sometimes seriously biased indicators for making…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a congressionally mandated survey of educational achievement of American students in a variety of curriculum areas and of changes in that achievement over time. The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) has established new standards for reporting the results that determined three…

Issues related to between-class and within-class decomposition of achievement variance and the change of this decomposition over the course of the eighth-grade were examined using the Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS, 1985), a study in which there was a nested or hierarchical data structure of students within classes, within schools,…

This report examines the achievement and enrollment of students at the Central Computers Unlimited Magnet High School in Kansas City, Missouri, through its third year of operation. The school offers special emphasis in computer science and technology including programming, maintenance, and operations. The evaluation design focuses on the…

Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) and the Hopkins Enhancement Survey of NELS:88 Middle Grades Practices were used to examine the prevalence and antecedents of different types of remedial activities in the middle grades. Data were also used to estimate the effects of remedial activities on the mathematics and…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a congressionally mandated statistical survey of educational achievement of U.S. students in a variety of curriculum areas and of changes in that achievement over time. The National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) established new standards for reporting the results that resulted in three…

The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) is the third in a series of longitudinal studies sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics. The NELS:88 is being conducted in several waves, beginning with a base year experience of approximately 25,000 eighth graders. This report profiles the family characteristics and…

The major goal of this study is to apply the essential unidimensionality statistic of W. Stout and the corresponding computer program (DIMTEST) to a hierarchical level mathematics achievement data set and to determine the extent to which the undimensional assumption can be accurately applied to mathematics achievement data. The study also…

Several recent experiences suggest that Hungarian students are among the best prepared mathematically in international comparisons of achievement. This paper outlines the cultural background of mathematics learning in Hungary that influences that international standing. Achievement factors in the whole cultural context include: the role of…

Mathematics contests, such as the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges' Student Mathematics League competition, are an excellent vehicle for identifying talented students and promoting mathematics scholarship. On-campus tournaments can supplement the Student Mathematics League national competition, by providing immediate feedback…

The purpose of this report is twofold. The first is to deliver an accurate portrayal of students' achievement in geometry and measurement as gleaned from the results of the 1986 Massachusetts Educational Assessment Program (MEAP). The second is to provide K-12 teachers of mathematics with activities that have proven to be helpful in encouraging…

Differences between school reading and mathematics means, rank orderings, and change scores obtained from total-group and sex-dependent norms were examined for students in grades 2 through 9 in a Florida school district. A preliminary study investigated sex-related differences between verbal and quantitative performance of boys and girls on seven…

This first volume of a review prepared for the Cockcroft Committee of Inquiry into the Teaching of Mathematics in Schools in Great Britain, and its main conclusions were incorporated in their report, "Mathematics Counts." Its aim was to display the main outcomes of research relevant to the teaching and learning of mathematics. The…

An investigation was made to determine whether teacher expectations influence the way teachers interact with students and, if they do, to assess what effects teacher behavior might have. Also addressed was the question of whether teachers treat males and females differently in ways that may discourage females in math. All teacher/student…