This qualitative research project studied the efforts of a small public elementary school over the course of 1 academic year to meet higher standards imposed by the state. The state's department of education defined school success in terms of the percentage of students passing a set of multiple-choice, standardized tests in four core areas of the…

During the 1980s and 1990s, the quantity of probability being taught in mathematics lessons in primary schools in England and Wales went from minimal to extensive and back again. A great deal of effort was invested in a project to incorporate probability into the primary curriculum that has now almost been abandoned. In this article I will attempt…

The relationship among working memory, mathematic ability, and the cognitive impairment of children with difficulties in mathematics was examined. A group of children with difficulties in mathematics (MD) was compared with a group of children with a normal level of achievement matched for vocabulary, age, and gender (N=49). The children were…

In young adults, preparedness to accept improbable events as planned rather than due to chance is predictive of the level of belief in the paranormal, possibly underpinned by lower intelligence levels (Musch and Ehrenberg, 2002). The present study, using a sample of 73 older participants aged 60-84 years failed to find any relationship between…

Issues related to student, teacher, and school accountability have been at the forefront of current educational policy initiatives. Recently, the state of Massachusetts has become a focal point in debate regarding the efficacy of highstakes accountability models based on an ostensibly large gain at 10th grade. This paper uses an IRT method for…

This article presents an analogy which explains much of the differences between schooling and teaching in the highest achieving countries in the world and in the United States. A new analysis of data from the Third International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) provides evidence that American students and teachers are greatly disadvantaged by the…

One of the ultimate goals of policy makers is to enable citizens to take advantage of a globalised world economy. This is leading them to focus on the improvement of education policies, ensuring the quality of service provision, a more equitable distribution of learning opportunities and stronger incentives for greater efficiency in schooling.…

The 4Rs Program (Reading, Writing, Respect and Resolution) is a "dual focus" whole school universal intervention designed to promote literacy development and social-emotional learning, that is currently being rigorously evaluated using a school-randomized trial of 18 elementary schools (9 intervention, 9 control) in New York City. The…

Alaska showed improvement in reading and math in grade 8 at the proficient level for almost all racial/ethnic subgroups, low income students, and boys and girls (subgroup trends were not available at the basic or advanced levels). Most student subgroups had upward trends in percentages proficient, with a few exceptions. Gains in math tended to be…

This paper profiles the student subgroup achievement and gap trends in Oklahoma for 2010. Oklahoma made progress in narrowing achievement gaps for most major subgroups on the End-of-Instruction (EOI) test in Algebra I. Trends in achievement gaps could not be determined for other grades in math, or for any grades in reading, because the state…

This paper profiles the student subgroup achievement and gap trends in Utah for 2010. Utah implemented new standards and cut scores in math so trend data that include 2009 are not available. In grade 8 (the only grade in which subgroup trends were analyzed by achievement level), Utah showed across-the-board gains in reading at the basic,…

The Comparing Options in Secondary Mathematics: Investigating Curriculum (COSMIC) project is a longitudinal study of student learning from two types of mathematics curricula: integrated and subject-specific. Previous large-scale research studies such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) indicate that numerous variables are…

The Bologna Declaration brought reforms into higher education that imply changes in teaching methods, didactic materials and textbooks, infrastructures and laboratories, etc. Statistics and mathematics are disciplines that traditionally have the worst success rates, particularly in non-mathematics core curricula courses. This research project,…

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD's) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) surveys, which take place every three years, have been designed to collect information about 15-year-old students in participating countries. PISA examines how well students are prepared to meet the challenges of the future,…

This paper presents the annual report of the Consolidated Grant Title V, Part A: Innovative Programs for the fiscal year 2008-2009. This report contains three sections. Section I, "Progress Report by Program", contains the following programs: (1) Local Education Reform Plan To Improve Reading, Math, and Language Arts; (2) Reading and Math Reform…