Colorado's voucher law was declared unconstitutional by the Colorado Supreme Court on June 28, 2004. Voucher supporters have begun drafting revised legislation designed to address the legal problem. This article calls into question the key financial claim of revenue neutrality--a claim that was central to the promotion and passage of the departing…

This study, part of a narrative classroom inquiry into the teaching and learning of mathematics in a Canadian elementary classroom, emerges from the three years I was a participant-observer in Janine O'Neil's 3rd/4th-grade classroom at Bay Street Community School. Drawing on the curriculum commonplaces of teacher, social milieu, subject matter,…

Mathematics in textbooks and indeed in conventional classrooms is often presented as exercises or worksheets in which the mathematics itself has been processed into a form that is easily digested. This McDonald's version of mathematics ensures that the mathematical skill or technique is laid bare and typically the sole focus of attention. In this…

Cognitive clusters from the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ III) Tests of Cognitive Abilities that measure select Cattell-Horn-Carroll broad and narrow cognitive abilities were shown to be significantly related to mathematics achievement in a large, nationally representative sample of children and adolescents. Multiple regression analyses were used to…

In this article, data from a study of the mental computation competence of students in grades 3 to 10 are presented. Students responded to mental computation items, presented orally, that included operations applied to fractions, decimals and percents. The data were analysed using Rasch modelling techniques, and a six-level hierarchy of part-whole…

This article demonstrates how a child's invented algorithm about tens and ones generated "transitional thinking" on the way to the construction of a mathematical understanding of place value. The articles also discusses how two important "best practice" classroom strategies, mathematical discourse, and the role of wait time in that discourse take…

I estimate the impact of attending a magnet school on student achievement in mathematics in a moderately large Southern district. Admission to magnet schools is through lotteries. Actual attendance by lottery winners is of course voluntary. I use lottery outcomes as instruments to control for bias due to self-selection of enrollees. Because…

Middle school students consolidate their understanding of integers and rational numbers, increasing their facility with fractions, decimals, and percents and encountering proportionality. This book shows how students can explore these important ideas in such diverse activities as exchanging currency and using area models to develop algorithms for…

Purpose: This study examined basic numerical skills in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and how well linguistic factors explain the variance in these children's number skills. Method: The performance of children with SLI (n = 29) was compared with that of typically developing children along a continuum ranging from preschool to 3rd…

We report on a longitudinal study designed to assess possible sex differences in math achievement, math ability, and math-related tasks during the primary school age years. Participants included over 200 children from one public school district. Annual assessments included measures of math ability, math calculation achievement scores, rapid naming…

This technical report provides the results of a study on the calculation and use of generalized variance functions (GVFs) and design effects for the 1990-91 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). The SASS is a periodic integrated system of sample surveys conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) that produces sampling variances…

This document offers instructional materials for a 32-hour course on math operations involving graphs/statistics, measurement (English and metric), geometry, exponential notation, and scientific notation as applied in the workplace. The course was part of a workplace literacy project developed by Mercer County Community College (New Jersey) and…

This report examines the development of tuition rates and tuition policy in Washington State's public higher education system and provides comparisons to rates and policies in other states. It also explores philosophies regarding the determination of tuition rates, along with the range of potential policy options. The draft report is divided into…

During the 1989-90 school year, the Barrett Math Program was piloted in selected sections of grades K-7 in five Atlanta (Georgia) Public Schools (APS) elementary schools. The Barrett Math Program is designed to improve the total mathematical skills of elementary school students, including computation, concepts, and problem solving, as measured by…

Developed for elementary teachers, this activity unit is designed to teach students the importance of estimation in developing quantitative thinking. Nine ways in which estimation is useful to students are listed, and five general guidelines are offered to the teacher for planning estimation activities. Specific guidelines are provided for…