In Eurocentric cultures there is a belief that there are gender differences in mathematics achievement. In reality, those differences are small whereas differences among ethnic groups, countries, and schools--often related to privilege--are much larger. (JOW)

Jinfa Cai's study comparing Chinese and American sixth-grade students' mathematics performance found that American students did better on simple and complex problems than on computation. One reason might be Asian countries' stress on rote learning. Paul George's 1995 monograph "Japanese Schools: A Closer Look" found instruction…

Used national survey data to examine the impact of high school algebra on students who differed in mathematics skills before entering high school. Regression analysis with over 12,500 students indicates that all students benefit from taking algebra, although benefits are smaller for those with very low prior achievement. (SLD)

The effect of optional retesting on the achievement of 1,314 college students in an individualized algebra course was studied. A performance improvement was found for about 90% of students who had earned a "B" or lower. Optional retesting appears to affect initial mastery, but not cumulative mastery. (SLD)

Identifies factors that were perceived as making the most important contributions to students' academic success or failure in first-year mathematics courses. Indicates areas of similarities and areas of differences in lecturers' and students' perceptions about influences on student success and failure. (Contains 24 references.) (Author/ASK)

Examines 26 studies on the relationship between anxiety toward mathematics and achievement in mathematics among elementary and secondary students. Indicates that the relationship is consistent across gender groups, grade-level groups, ethnic groups, instruments measuring anxiety, and years of publication. The relationship differs significantly…

Analysis of the mathematics attainment of cohorts of British elementary students in Year 2 (n=1,740) and Year 6 (n=1,663) from 1989-1997 reveals stable attainment over 9 years. There were fewer overachievers than expected since the standardization of the test. (SK)

Demonstrates that tutorial assistance, independent of variables of gender, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score, math placement level, and high school grade point average (GPA), had a significant effect on students' final examination scores in a mathematics course. Finds that math performance of the selected sample had a positive relationship to…

In a 4-week study, students in one of two high school geometry classes completed three types of writing assignments: summarizing teacher lectures, explaining the process of problem solving, and analyzing incorrect problems on homework or tests. The class that completed the writing assignments had significantly higher average scores on two chapter…

Describes the education quality control systems for mathematics used by the nine countries that performed best on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) test. Findings suggest that the more enforced quality control measured used in an education system, the better the students' academic achievement. (Author/SLD)

Using data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), the present study examined whether early acceleration of students into formal algebra at the beginning of middle school promoted evident growth in different mathematical areas (basic skills, algebra, geometry, and quantitative literacy) and stable growth across these mathematical…

This brief article describes a few entertaining math "puzzles" that are easy to use with students at any grade level and with any operation. Not only do these puzzles help provide practice with facts and operations, they are also self-checking and may lead to some interesting big ideas in algebra.

The authors investigated the etiology of low mathematics performance in 7-year-olds in the context of normal variation. The lowest 15% were selected from a representative U.K. sample of 2,178 same-sex twin pairs rated by their teachers according to National Curriculum criteria in 3 domains of mathematics. Model-fitting analyses of mathematics…

The general perception is that high school teaching of mathematics in South Africa tends to be fairly procedural and that students that enter university are better equipped to deal with procedural problems rather than conceptual. This study compares the conceptual and procedural skills of first-year calculus students in life sciences. Also…

Monitoring educational changes over many years is problematic when there are differences in curricula, the nature of the variables being measured, and the selection of participants. Rasch measurement techniques provide a procedure that enables each of these issues to be examined. Using archived and specially collected data, tests of numeracy…