The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between the use of technology and student computation and geometry achievement. The study also examined possible relationships between achievement differences related to demographic and background characteristics of the students and the use of technology. The sample of 956 students in…

This study focused on the relationship between high school students' course-taking patterns and their achievement of higher-order thinking skills. PLAN scores (in grade 10) and ACT Assessment scores (in grades 11 or 12) were collected for 73,818 students in 1,174 high schools. The findings show that, in a typical high school, eleventh- and…

This document, one of four volumes comprising the 1995 Goals Report, is the fifth in a series of annual reports. This core report for 1995 focuses on approximately two dozen indicators that show the progress made by the United States toward the National Education Goals. National performance has improved in five areas, gotten worse in seven, and,…

This booklet, one of a set of four documents comprising the 1995 Goal Report, contains the executive summary for the fifth in a series of annual reports to measure progress toward the National Education Goals. The first part summarizes the nation's progress toward each of the goals. It provides baseline measures of progress, the most recent…

To determine whether the range of ability within the classroom has a significant effect on students' performance in mathematics, and to identify the class compositional or instructional characteristics that contribute to differences between homogeneous and heterogeneous classes in terms of mathematics achievement, an analysis was conducted using…

The effects of previous mathematics, statistics, and computer science coursework; attitudes toward statistics and computers; and mathematics ability on statistics achievement were studied for 289 college students over 4 semesters. A secondary purpose of the study was to determine the effect of the computer laboratory component of an inferential…

A new testing strategy that provides protection against the problem of having examinees in adaptive testing choose difficulty levels that are not matched to their proficiency levels was introduced and evaluated. The method, termed restricted self-adapted testing (RSAT), still provides examinees with a degree of control over the difficulty levels…

This study assessed whether providing examinees with a choice between computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and self-adaptive testing (SAT) affects test performance in comparison with being assigned a CAT or SAT, and evaluated variables influencing examinee choice of either test form. The relative influences of test type and test choice on examinee…

This report describes the success of the LaHarpe (Illinois) Community Unit School District in raising student math scores on the Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP). Low IGAP test results and faculty dissatisfaction with scores precipitated the school district to modify the content and delivery of math instruction based on student needs…

Data from the Spring 1996 administration of the New Standards Mathematics Reference Examination for Middle Grades were used to examine the instructional validity of the Reference Examination, opportunity to learn, and equity in the context of the California Mathematics Renaissance program. Student (n=1,936) and teacher (n=105) responses to the…

Parents in affluent communities have been following the suggestion of research and delaying kindergarten entry of their young age-eligible children in order to increase the likelihood of the child's academic success. This study examined the correlation between the chronological age of a child entering kindergarten and his or her performance on…

Despite rising concerns about the mathematics and science achievement of U.S. students, a flood of evidence amassed over the past decade suggests that far too few students are receiving the high-quality education needed in these subjects either for careers or for basic citizenship. The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD)…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a congressionally mandated survey of educational achievement of what American students know and can do, it also includes a yardstick that can be used to evaluate that performance. Results, presented here for the states and the nation, indicate that just over 60 percent of the students in…

The validity of teachers' reports of students' instructional experiences (content exposure or coverage) and content validity of a given course were studied by examining the consistency of reported content coverage for teachers across two consecutive years (1988 and 1989). In addition, the sensitivity of the test to instruction was examined by…

Previous research has provided support for the mediating role of self-efficacy between independent attitude variables and dependent performance measures. However the existence of a confirmatory model, that can be generalized over both males' and females' measures of attitudes, perceived self-efficacy, and achievement levels, has not yet been…