Hostetler (2005) describes "good" education research as that which attends to the well-being of students, teachers, and communities. In this essay, the author proposes measuring equity-based research in mathematics education against Hostetler's standard. She argues that current equity-based research has not adequately addressed the…

Classroom observation is a crucial aspect of any system of teacher evaluation. No matter how skilled a teacher is in other aspects of teaching--such as careful planning, working well with colleagues, and communicating with parents--if classroom practice is deficient, that individual cannot be considered a good teacher. Classroom observations can…

As many states and districts rethink teacher supervision and evaluation, the team at the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Project, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has analyzed thousands of lesson videotapes and studied the shortcomings of current practices. The tentative conclusion: Teachers should be evaluated on three…

The primary focus of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of games when used in tertiary-level mathematics classes in the United Arab Emirates. Our study incorporated a mixed-method approach that involved surveys (to assess students' perceptions of the learning environment and attitudes towards mathematics), interviews, observations of…

This paper explores how State Space Grids (SSG), a dynamic systems research method, can be used to map teacher-student interactions from moment-to-moment and thereby to incorporate temporal aspects of interaction. Interactions in two secondary school classrooms are described in terms of level of interpersonal control and affiliation, and of…

In recent years, interest has grown in using classroom observation as a means to several ends, including teacher development, teacher evaluation, and impact evaluation of classroom-based interventions. Although education practitioners and researchers have developed numerous observational instruments for these purposes, many developers fail to…

Research Findings: The aim of the present study was to examine classroom quality profiles of kindergarten classrooms using a person-centered approach and to analyze these patterns in regard to teacher and classroom characteristics. Observations of the domains of Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support were conducted in…

When people read, they often make connections to their lives, the world, and other texts. Often, these connections are not overt, but are a thinking process invisible to observers. The purpose of this study was to explore the intertextual connections struggling middle school students made as they read multiple topically-related texts to build…

The International Society for Technology (ISTE) in Education promotes the use of a specific tool--the ISTE Classroom Observation Tool (ICOT)--to measure and improve the use of instructional technologies in Adult Basic Education (ABE) classrooms. The purpose of this article is to describe an application process for the use of the ICOT instrument…

The National Research Council (NRC) has indicated that effective instruction in colleges of agriculture should prepare students to enter a dynamically changing workplace by helping students learn to be proficient in 21st century skills. The NRC suggested that effective instruction in colleges of agriculture should encompass a hospitable learning…

In the present research, we evaluated the effectiveness of a multi-year professional development program in mathematics for elementary teachers. Each year the program focused on a different domain of mathematics. We found the program increased teachers' knowledge of (a) number and operations, (b) measurement and geometry, and (c) probability and…

Research shows that fathers' level of education predicts achievement of both boys and girls, with significantly greater effect for boys. Similarly, mothers' level of education predicts the achievement of girls but not boys. This study tests the mother-child education achievement hypothesis, by examining the effect of mothers' education on the…

The International Baccalaureate (IB) programme utilizes an inquiry-based multi-disciplinary approach and focuses on the teaching of critical-thinking skills. The IB programme is growing at a rapid rate within the United States, with the overall number of IB schools having more than doubled in the last five years. The purpose of the present study…

A three-year-case study funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) from the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education was designed to study a 30-year project of music and drama in primary schools in Madeira. This article reports on the narratives of the three main figures in the project as they elaborate on its…

This article reports results of a qualitative study conducted at a public "escuela secundaria" (U.S. grades 7, 8, and 9) in Guadalajara, Mexico, during the spring of 2010. As the second phase of an ongoing project, the main goal was to learn from direct classroom observation about the most prevalent teaching and institutional practices…