Calculators were used in the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade public school and private school students and in the Trial State Assessment of 8th-grade public school students. Before they were tested, all of the students were trained briefly in how to use the equipment. NAEP collected information…

The objective of this pretest-posttest Quasi-Experimental Design study was to determine the effects of LOGO Based Instruction (LBI) compared to instruction by teacher lecture and pencil-and-paper activities on: (1) students' understanding of the concepts of point, ray, line, and line segment; (2) students' attitudes toward learning geometry,…

This report presents findings of the National Academy of Education Panel on the Evaluation of the Trial State Assessment (TSA) concerning the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics TSA program. The Panel's recommendations regarding the continuation of TSAs for review by the Congress, states, and Executive Branch of the…

The launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in 1957 initiated a series of reform movements in mathematics education. These reform movements provide a framework from which to chronicle the development of interest into gender differences in mathematics learning. The paper examines these issues and is presented in six sections. The first section…

Since the authorization of the use of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) through the Trial State Assessment to provide state-based data, debate over the proposed expansion of the NAEP has strengthened. To assist states in analyzing and interpreting 1990 data on eighth-grade mathematics and to assist in planning subsequent NAEP…

A study was done of student achievement and its relation to family and community poverty in light of 20 years of education reform and Chapter 1 funding since 1966. The study used the following three long-term studies of American high school students, in which measures of achievement and socioeconomic standing are meant to be comparable among…

Twenty-one magnet programs in the Houston Independent School District in Texas feature an enriched curriculum in science, math, and/or computers (science/math). Of these, 12 are elementary programs, 4 are middle school programs, and 5 are high school programs. In these programs, a total of 9,574 students were served during the 1990-91 school year:…

Reasons why African American and Hispanic American students tend to have lower scores than do White students on standardized mathematics and reading tests are examined, focusing on a study from Texas. Results of the Texas Examination of Current Administrators and Teachers (TECAT) for approximately 900 school districts show that where the…

This study investigated the role of problem structure and metacognitive control in the analogical transfer of performance of 40 13- and 14-year-old gifted and highly gifted math students. Average and above average 16-, 17-, and 18-year-olds served as comparison groups. Students were given three algebra problems with solutions, followed by two…

National standardization data were used to reexamine the evidence of gender differences in achievement test scores reported in previous studies. Changes in differences over time, from 1963 to 1992, were examined, as were differences across all grade and achievement levels. Subjects participated in Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS), Iowa Tests of…

Chinese-American girls perform as well as Chinese-American boys at higher levels of mathematics. Caucasian-American girls perform significantly less well than Caucasian-American boys. This study, designed to examine factors involved in this differential, contrasts 25 first generation Chinese-American mother-father pairs and 27 Caucasian-American…

This report examines the findings from a series of evaluations of efficacy programs in selected elementary and middle schools in Peoria (Illinois), Detroit (Michigan), Los Angeles (California), and the Ravenswood School District in East Palo Alto (California). An efficacy program initiated in Sacramento is targeted as a research site, but no data…

Recent reports by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), the National Research Council, the Mathematical Sciences Education Board, and the Board on Mathematical Sciences emphasize that coordinated improvement in the content of mathematics curriculum, classroom instruction, and teacher education is the key to improving mathematics…

In September 1991, the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) announced standards for basic, proficient, and advanced achievement in mathematics and reported that few American students had reached these standards. Expert reviewers noted technical problems with the NAGB approach and questioned its results. In this report, the NAGB…

Appalachia Educational Laboratory's Rural Excel program collaborated with the Tennessee Center of Excellence for Science and Mathematics Education and with faculty at 21 local education agencies in rural Tennessee to evaluate implementation of the Tennessee Mathematics Activities Manuals for grades 5-8. The manuals each contain 54-67 activities…