Analysis of Longitudinal Study of American Youth data indicates that during grades 7-11, males and females acquired mathematical skills at the same rate. Variation in student scores increased over time, and students maintained their initial position in the distribution. This fan-spread phenomenon also occurred among schools and was more pronounced…

A study investigated the relationship between working memory (WM), declarative strategy knowledge, and math achievement in 111 children with and without mathematical disabilities (MD). Results found verbal and visual-spatial WM, stable verbal strategy choices, and expert strategy choices related to visual-spatial processing all contributed…

Examined whether the influences of educational productivity factors on mathematics achievement and attitudes toward mathematics were the same for African American high school students and students from other ethnic groups. Data from the 1988 National Longitudinal Study indicated that the influence of productivity factors on mathematics achievement…

Examined value of construction play scores on Lunzer Five Point Play Scale at 4 years as predictor of later mathematical achievement. At grades 3 and 5, found little significance in relationship between play performance and mathematical achievement. At grade 7 and in high school, each area of construction play and standardized test scores was…

Provides evidence of differences in students' ability to solve problems with and without a computer algebra system. Indicates that almost without exception, the TI-92 students were more successful at symbolically solving problems than comparison students. Observes improved performance on all three levels of problems: (1) directive computational;…

Using 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data (n=7,787), the relationship between Head Start and school suspensions, grade repetition, and math achievement was examined. Estimates indicate that Head Start does not have long-term benefits, a finding compatible with studies showing that compensatory preschool programs need to be long in…

Previous studies of the connection between school enrollment size and student achievement use cross-sectional econometric models and thus do not account for unobserved heterogeneity across schools. To address this concern, I utilize school-level panel data, and generate first-differences estimates of the effect of school size on achievement.…

In this study, we investigated the fluency with which first graders of different mathematical achievement levels applied multiple, school-taught strategies for finding arithmetic sums over 10. We characterized children's strategies with the 4 parameters of Lemaire and Siegler's (1995) model of strategy change (strategy repertoire, distribution,…

Objective: To evaluate clinical measures of the benefit/risk ratio in a post hoc analysis of a clinical trial of d-threo-methylphenidate hydrochloride (d-MPH) and d,l-threo-methylphenidate hydrochloride (d,l-MPH). Method: Data from a phase III clinical trial was used to compare equimolar doses of d-MPH and d,l-MPH treatment for…

In this article we describe how an underperforming school district used research and theory on curriculum, assessment, implementation, and school and classroom organization to develop and implement district standards and improve the achievement of elementary school students. Key reforms included teachers developing essential curriculum standards,…

This paper reports on young women students participation in their undergraduate mathematics degree programme: their gendered trajectory is characterized in terms of their being both "invisible" in the dominant university mathematics community and yet "special" in their self -conception. It draws on data collected from a…

The objective of this study was to investigate how different components of achievement goal theory were related to each other and to students' motivation, cognitive engagement, and achievement in mathematics. Junior high school students (N=525) completed a self-report survey that assessed their perceived classroom goal structures; personal goal…

Undergraduate college students in an advanced math class were videotaped as they worked on three mathematical proofs. Findings indicated that both ability and self-efficacy were needed for group success. Members with high levels of self-efficacy served the group by encouraging others to continue working. Groups tended to use a trial-and-error…

To investigate mechanisms of failure in mathematics, we adopt the "communicational approach to cognition," which describes thinking as an activity of communication and learning mathematics as an initiation to a certain type of discourse. In the search for factors that impede students' participation in arithmetic communication, we examine…

China and other East Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan) have consistently outperformed the United States and other Western countries in mathematics achievement. As part of a Fulbright-sponsored trip to China in the Summer of 2002, a New York City public school teacher and a trainer of school psychologists offer their impressions of some…