No Child Left Behind Act of 2001(NCLB), signed by President George W. Bush was supported overwhelming by both political parties and signified a major overhaul of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. The introduction of NCLB led to a series of accountability measures in English Language Arts and mathematics in grades 6-8 beginning in…

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study research of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement reported in 2003 that Taiwanese fourth- and eighth-graders' mathematics performance exceeded the international average; both groups ranked fourth from among all the participant countries. However, the Index…

This study investigated the benefits of all-girls' classroom instruction in math and/or science during Grades 9 and/or 10, within the context of a public co-educational high school. There were 118 participants in this longitudinal investigation: 26 girls in the all-girl classes, as well as 42 girls and 50 boys in the regular co-educational…

Vygotsky speculated that parents play an important role in the intellectual development of their children, and that this role includes the transfer of expectations related to their children's academic achievement. Consequently, different parents can produce different contexts of academic achievement for their children. The participants were 215…

Background/Context: Nationally, almost a quarter of charter school students attend a school managed by a for-profit education management organization (EMO). EMOs have full executive authority over the operation and management of schools, including curriculum and instruction decisions. Because charter schools are funded with public dollars, critics…

In this study, 149 low-income, ethnically heterogeneous, fourth- and fifth-grade students completed self-report surveys in the fall and spring of 1 academic year. We examined classroom climate (satisfaction, cohesion, friction, task difficulty, and competition) and school belonging in relation to language arts and math and science self-efficacy,…

Upper elementary teachers won't be surprised to learn that in every state, students enrolled in grades 3 through 8 bear the brunt of educational accountability. All states test all students at these grade levels in English/language arts and mathematics. Furthermore, an increasing number of states are testing students at selected elementary and…

This article describes key elements for mathematics teachers, through the faculty development process, to increase student engagement and motivation in learning mathematics. It addresses common barriers facing student motivation and achievement in the field of mathematics and provides potential remedies from a faculty development viewpoint to…

The No Child Left Behind education act mandates that school districts develop supplemental educational service programs for students not demonstrating mathematical proficiency on state standardized math assessments. Yet there is limited understanding of issues related to supplemental educational service math programs. The purpose of this…

The purpose of this research was to determine whether transient or mobile students attain lower levels of academic achievement than non-transient students and to identify the characteristics distinguishing transient from non-transient students. The study analyzed the assessment results, student characteristics, and school factors for approximately…

This paper examines three types of Kalamazoo Public Schools (KPS) trends that may represent Promise effects: 1) trends in overall enrollment, 2) trends in relative enrollment by ethnic group, and 3) trends in KPS achievement on the standardized test used by the state of Michigan for No Child Left Behind accountability, the Michigan Educational…

The impact of schools and students not meeting academic achievement standards affects the community and the nation's future workforce. This paper examines many of the factors influencing achievement with special attention given to the facts of teacher turnover in the schools. Teacher turnover and the sad state of the academic achievement of…

In grade 8 (the only grade in which subgroup trends were analyzed by achievement level), New Mexico showed across-the-board gains--improvements in reading and math at the basic-and-above, proficient-and-above, and advanced levels for all major racial/ethnic subgroups and low-income students. Progress in narrowing achievement gaps at grades 4, 8,…

States and other educational entities receiving Part B funding under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) submitted their Annual Performance Reports (APRs) and Section 618 Table 6 data together to the U.S. Secretary of Education on or before February 1, 2009. These reports may have been modified during the following few months,…

This paper reports on how ten school districts and a state university system address a state-funded college readiness program for high school student achievement in mathematics and English. It addresses in qualitative and quantitative detail: (a) the school-university partnership designed to decrease the number of high school students that require…