Reviews literature on mathematics achievement trends and discusses relevant population trends. Examines the literature on mathematics achievement by demographic group-race, class, gender, and language proficiency. Also highlights important findings including the improvement of all demographic groups in basic mathematics skills over the last 15…

Used Australian Mathematics Competition to examine performance in mathematics of students young for their grade. The youngest students performed better than the oldest students. There were more males than females in the older group but no gender differences in the younger group. Items ranged from routine to highly sophisticated. (NBI)

Examined the effects of early mathematics acceleration on the development of junior and senior high school students' mathematics attitudes and anxiety. Longitudinal Study of American Youth data indicated that for gifted and honors students, early acceleration did not necessarily confer negative emotional effects, while for regular students, it had…

Studied the effects of student attitudes toward mathematics, student perception of parental opinion, and student assessment of study time on performance on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study with a U.S. sample of more than 10,000 students. Findings show the complexity of the factors contributing to mathematics performance. (SLD)

Examines the implementation and utility of the blocked longitudinal growth method (BLGM) to understand math course placement practices in junior high schools in one district. Found that movement away from a conventional and normative approach to a more flexible approach based on growth in math skills seems to be supported. (Author/MLF)

Investigated the effects of student motivation, attitude, and academic engagement on eighth graders' mathematics and science achievement. Data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 supported the positive effects of the two motivation factors, attitude, and academic time on mathematics and science achievement. The strongest effects…

How the organization of U.S. high school mathematics curriculum affects how much students learn was studied with data from 123 schools in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Results indicate that students learn more in schools that offer a narrow curriculum of mostly academic courses. (SLD)

Reports on the results of the reform curriculum of the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project's elementary curriculum, Everyday Mathematics, for third-grade students. Results included the fact that only 2% of UCSMP students failed to meet state goals. UCSMP students also scored well in all mathematical areas including number skills and…

Data on academic self-concept, school grades, and teacher ratings of achievement were collected from 603 students for three high school subjects in each of three years. Structural equation models show reciprocal effects for prior achievement and academic self-concept for all subjects. Effects were largest for mathematics. (SLD)

A study of 12 special education teachers who had a high acceptance of curriculum-based assessment and 9 teachers who had a low acceptance found they differed on two of five implementation measures. Also, there was a significant difference in the rate of growth affected by their students in math. (Author/CR)

Studied the teaching and learning of fractions in two matched groups of 10 9-10-year-olds in the Netherlands. In the experimental group, fractions were introduced using the bar and number line as mental models, while the control group used fair sharing and the circle model. The experimental group showed more proficiency in fractions after 1 year.…

This study investigated students' mathematics achievement, estimation ability, use of estimation strategies, and academic self-perception with 135 students (n=135) in grades 4, 6, or 8, either with learning disabilities (LD), average achievers, or intellectually gifted. Students with LD differed significantly from average achievers in their use of…

Explored how children's literacy skills and resources at the start of kindergarten relate to their reading and mathematics achievement at the end of kindergarten and the start of first grade. Data are from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-1999 (National Center for Education Statistics). Findings show that children…

A secondary analysis of the National Assessment of Educational Progress was conducted to provide insight into ethnic differences in 12th-grade math achievement. Variables central to the three conditions model of achievement accounted for 45%-50% of the variance. The implications of these results for theories of ethnic differences and for reform…

Introduces the articles of this theme issue, which cover a wide variety of questions and problems relevant to research using findings of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The articles have in common that most try to determine the degree to which certain factors influence student achievement. The focus is on five…