Developmental mathematics (DSPM) is no longer a roadblock to student success at Jackson State Community College. Previously, all students, regardless of their goals, had to pass or test out of the same DSPM courses before enrolling in the college courses and programs they desired. In Spring 2007, Jackson State began a process of redesigning its…

The well established, gold standard approach to finding out what works in education research is to run a randomized controlled trial (RCT) using a standard pre-test and post-test design. RCTs have been used in the intelligent tutoring community for decades to determine which questions and tutorial feedback work best. Practically speaking, however,…

This study investigated preservice elementary teachers' achievement goal orientations for learning mathematics and the relationship of those goals to their attitudes toward mathematics. Self-report instruments were administered to assess three achievement goals--mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoid, and three constructs of…

The present research tested the longitudinal relations over a school-year between motivational climates, achievement goals, and five physical education outcomes, namely intrinsic motivation, perceived competence, positive attitude, exertion, and attendance in physical education. The results showed that students' mastery goals measured early in the…

Competency education is student-centric, personalizing student progress so that every child has adequate time and support to reach proficiency every step of the way. Competency education fundamentally changes the way the educational enterprise is organized around student needs, and thus must have a dynamic IT system to support it. Following an…

The Investigators studied scoring reliability of Candidates' ten day unit plans of instruction through prescribed action research projects, across three academic years. Scoring of the projects in year one provided opportunities for further refinement of the action research evaluation methods in year two. Across three terms in years one and two…

Reading problems are one of the most frequent reasons students are referred for special education services and the disparity between students with reading difficulties and those who read successfully appears to be increasing. As a result, there is now an emphasis on early intervention programs such as RTI. In many cases, early intervention in…

Science instruction can be designed to be laboratory-data driven. We report on an investigation of the use of thematic inquiry-based tasks with active incorporation of mathematics, science, and microcomputer-based laboratory technology in standards-correlated activities that enhanced learning experiences. Activities involved students in two major…

This paper examines Vygotsky's conception of play as a leading activity in the contexts of children's contemporary play worlds. Commencing with an examination of the relationship between leading activities and the development of psychological functions, the paper moves into a consideration of the relationship between imagination and reality as a…

The authors examined relations among student perceptions of classroom achievement goals, self-efficacy, perceived instrumentality of classroom work, and sense of belonging within a classroom. Participants were 249 high school students. The authors also examined how cognitive engagement was predicted by those variables along with personal…

This study focuses on trainer expressiveness and trainee mastery orientation within the context of the seductive details effect. The seductive details effect refers to inclusion of "highly interesting and entertaining information that is only tangentially related to the topic" (Harp & Mayer, 1998, p. 1). One hundred thirty-two participants…

In this paper I consider one aspect of how student writing is supported in the university. I focus on the use of the "writing frame", questioning its status as a vehicle for facilitating student voice, and in the process questioning how that notion is itself understood. I illustrate this by using examples from the story of the 1944 Hollywood film…

The Collaborative Language and Literacy Instruction Project (CLLIP) is a model of professional development designed to help teachers incorporate research-based practices of literacy instruction, support mastery, and sustained use of these practices through coaching, and serve as a foundation for whole-school reform efforts. We describe the model,…

This paper reports on a qualitative study that explored the challenges experienced by nine emerging scholars of teaching at a research-intensive university in South Africa. It details three problem areas encountered during the process of becoming scholars of teaching: (1) negative perceptions about the work and related reward concerns, (2)…

The majority of college students are not ready for college-level math courses, which, when completed, have been shown to increase graduation and transfer rates among college students. To address this problem, the Math My Way (MMW) program was developed to integrate module-based curriculum and mastery learning approaches. The purpose of this study…