Compares the ability of students in Michigan (N=302) and Scotland (N=221) to do simple calculation exercises and relational/practical problems involving number and operation. Although this is not a controlled statistical study (data collected included birth date and sex), sample sizes are sufficient to make the reported results meaningful. (JN)

This report presents the national and state results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assessment in mathematics and compares them to results from assessments in 2003 and in the first year data were available, usually 1990. In 2005, nationally representative samples of about 172,000 fourth-grade and 162,000 eighth-grade…

Harry completed his first year of primary school (Kindergarten) during 2004 in New South Wales, Australia. He enjoyed school; made great friends; played lots of sport; continued to read quite successfully; was well-liked by his teachers; participated in many activities; and, on reportedly rare occasions, did some mathematics. In this paper,…

This study used evidence from the 1996 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics and the 1998 NAEP main assessments in reading and writing to examine patterns of computer use and academic achievement in each of these three academic domains. It is concluded that the design of the NAEP data collection precludes using such…

This paper argues that discussions of diversity often avoid the issue of race. Further, it maintains that diversity and structural backlashes to it in the United States in social and economic life shape and are shaped by crises in mathematics education. Attention is paid to the lack of instructional diversity in mathematical problem types and to…

One theme of current research about higher education students of mathematics concerns those who fail. At our institution, some of the entrants are students who have previously failed in mathematics; others come to us with a comparatively weak mathematical background. Most of these students go on to become confident and effective mathematicians,…

Despite mathematicians valuing the ability to visualize a problem and psychologists finding positive correlations of visual-spatial ability with success in mathematics, many educationists remain unconvinced about the benefits of visualization for mathematical understanding. This paper describes research that compared a "visual" to a "verbal"…

This study investigated the relationship between the scales used for the NDSA assessments and the RIT scales used to report performance on Northwest Evaluation Association tests. The study estimated the changes in reading and mathematics RIT score equivalents for the NDSA performance levels in those subjects. Test records for more than 9,000…

This study investigated the relationship between the scales used for the WASL assessments and the RIT scales used to report performance on Northwest Evaluation Association tests. The study estimated the changes in reading and mathematics RIT score equivalents for the WASL performance levels in those subjects. Test records for more than 12,000…

Changes in high school grading standards were evaluated, focusing on mathematics because only in mathematics was it possible to adjust grades to take into account tested achievement. Data are from nationally representative surveys, the High School and Beyond Study, and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988. Descriptive analyses were…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a survey of American students' knowledge and skills in different subjects at grades 4, 8, and 12. NAEP combines the samples of performances to provide information about the knowledge and skills of students in the nation as a whole, in each participating state, and in different demographic…

Over the past 30 years the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) has conducted three international studies of mathematics at the 13-year-old level. In the three studies, in addition to mathematics achievement tests, students were required to respond to an attitude questionnaire concerning their attitudes…

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act and other U.S. Department of Education programs are already available to support mathematics instruction and yet these resources, particularly those of Title I, the largest source of federal funding for elementary and secondary schools, remain largely untapped for standards-based mathematics education.…

This paper studies successful African American students' perception of their mathematics education, mathematics knowledge, and their interaction with peers. Two female and four male participants attending the same southern four-year university completed courses in calculus 1, 2, and 3. Data was gathered using interviews, surveys, exemplary teacher…

This study involved over 4,000 third grade students in a large (90,000+) suburban-emerging-urban school district. The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of curriculum alignment on student achievement in mathematics as measured by the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (IOWA) after one year of implementation in the DeKalb County School…