The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what students in the United States know and can do in various academic subjects. The 1996 NAEP in mathematics assessed the current level of mathematical achievement as a mechanism for informing education reform. In 1996, 44…

The continued implementation of Chapter 1 Schoolwide Projects (SWPs) within the Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) School District during the 1989-90 school year is evaluated. A 5-year achievement summary is also presented. Data on attendance, report card grades, and normal curve equivalent (NCE) gains for 37 schools from the first SWP cohort are…

Project Atlantans Learning Employment Responsibilities Together (ALERT) was conducted by the Atlanta (Georgia) Public School System, in 1991, for the ninth consecutive year. Project ALERT is an education component of the Summer Youth Employment Program that represents a concerted effort to address problems associated with the high unemployment…

A study was conducted at San Jose City College (SJCC) to determine whether method of instruction in Math 310 (Arithmetic) affected new college students' rates of success, first-semester competency, and persistence. The three instructional approaches used in Math 310 were a traditional three-unit classroom (CL); a structured math lab offering…

The study described in this report examined the characteristics of eighth-grade students who were at risk of school failure. The study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, which is a large-scale, national longitudinal study begun in the spring of 1988 when 25,000 eighth graders attending public and private schools…

Children begin school with the ability to use their informal and implicit conceptual knowledge to guide their problem solving, but shift to the use of superficial strategies in their attempts to solve word problems as they progress through school. This paper describes a study designed to investigate the effects of an instructional sequence that…

The Massachusetts Basic Skills Testing Program, mandated by Chapter 188 of the Acts of 1985, seeks to identify students who have not mastered basic skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. Because the Massachusetts Department of Education does not mandate any post-test action, it has not been possible to prescribe any method of providing help…

This study is an exploratory analysis of class-level data concerning junior high school (JHS) students' affective and motivational beliefs. It examines class-level information on selected psychological characteristics that students, who read at the fifth-grade level, bring to learning mathematics and that teachers encounter during instruction.…

The focus of this report is children's construction and analogical transfer of mathematical knowledge during novel problem solving, as reflected in their strategies for dealing with isomorphic combinatorial problems presented in "hands-on" and written form. Case studies of 9-year-olds, one low and one high achieving in school…

Instruction based on learning styles has received little attention in the recent reform efforts in mathematics education. The purpose of this book is to address the improvement of mathematics instruction through sensitivity to learning styles. The introduction discusses the scope and rationale of the book. Chapter 2 documents the need for…

This document presents an overview of the frameworks developed for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) at grades 4, 8, and 12 in reading, United States history, geography, mathematics, and science. The critical elements of NAEP framework material for the five subject areas are brought together for planning and policy formation…

This monograph summarizes selected major activities, trends, issues, and recommendations related to curriculum, instructional materials and instruction in K-12 mathematics education that have been documented in the literature. The technique used for selecting trends, issues, and recommendations was to identify relevant literature that had…

Between 1985 and 1989, the Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR) Project studied the effect of class size on student achievement in Tennessee schools. The study examined: (1) small classes of 15 students per teacher; (2) regular classes of 24 students per teacher; and (3) regular classes with a teacher's aide. The sample included students from…

The statute authorizing the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) calls for the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB) to set appropriate achievement levels in all areas and grades tested by the NAEP. These levels are intended to establish what students should know, not just what they do know. In 1990, the NAEP posited three…

Major revision in the U.S. mathematics curriculum since the 1960s have led to significant differences between the mathematics curriculum of the United States and those of many other countries. This study explored how eight Chinese immigrant students, with different cultural backgrounds, mathematics knowledge, and learning styles, learned in an…