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Eric.ed.gov – Difficulties Encountered by High School Students in Mathematics

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The aim of this study is to identify whether high school students encounter any difficulties in mathematics and reveal the reasons for such difficulties. The participants of the study, which was a descriptive case study based on qualitative understanding, were a total of 164 students, including 85 students from Anatolian High Schools and 79 students from Science High Schools. Approximately 11% of the participants said they had no difficulties in math, whereas 99% of the students from Anatolian High Schools and 78% of the students from Science High Schools said they had difficulties in mathematic. Their thoughts about the reasons for such difficulties were analyzed by content analysis method considering the type of high school they attended. The findings obtained revealed that the difficulties encountered by the… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Barriers to Student Success in Madagascar

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Various indicators suggest that math and science students in many developing countries are lagging behind their counterparts in other nations. Using Madagascar as a case study, we aimed to: (1) evaluate the effectiveness of education among those enrolled in science and math programs at primary, secondary, and university institutions; and, (2) understand barriers to student progression through the education system. To that end we conducted 63 semi-structured interviews in June and August 2012 with science and math teachers in five population centers, across all three levels of both public and private school systems. We found that crowded classes, limited resources (pedagogical and infrastructural), an average student range in age of seven years per classroom (suggestive of grade repetition and/or late school starting age), and discontinuities in the… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – The Impact of High School Mathematics and Science Course Graduation Requirements: School Structural, Academic, and Social Organizational Factors

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Given the policy goals of course graduation requirements (CGRs), this study first tests the hypothesis that CGRs promote academic excellence and equity by both improving student performance (“productivity hypothesis”) and reducing the gap between student groups as defined by academic ability, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (“equality hypothesis”). This study also assesses whether and how schools differ in CGRs’ effects by testing the following hypotheses that CGRs affect student outcomes more positively in schools with (1) higher concentration of advantaged peers (“school structure hypothesis”), (2) greater academic/instructional capacity (“academic organization hypothesis”), and (3) stronger academic norms/climate (“social organization hypothesis”). This study analyzes the data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) that provide the information on high school CGRs in several academic subjects at the school… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Kids Today: The Rise in Children’s Academic Skills at Kindergarten Entry

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Private and public investments in early childhood education have expanded significantly in recent years. Despite this heightened investment, we have little empirical evidence on whether children today enter school with different skills than they did in the late nineties. Using two large, nationally representative datasets, this paper documents how students entering kindergarten in 2010 compare to those who entered in 1998 in terms of their teacher-reported math, literacy and behavioral skills. Our results indicate that students in the more recent cohort entered kindergarten with stronger math and literacy skills. Results for behavioral outcomes were mixed. Increases in academic skills over this period were particularly pronounced among black children. Implications for policy are discussed. [This paper was published in “Educational Researcher” v46 n1 p7-20 2017 (EJ1132546).] Link til… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Great Expectations: The Impact of Rigorous Grading Practices on Student Achievement

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: We know from previous survey research that teachers who hold high expectations for all of their students significantly increase the odds that those young people will go on to complete high school and college. One indicator of teachers’ expectations is their approach to grading–specifically, whether they subject students to more or less rigorous grading practices. Unfortunately, “grade inflation” is pervasive in U.S. high schools, as evidenced by rising GPAs even as SAT scores and other measures of academic performance have held stable or fallen. The result is that a “good” grade is no longer a clear marker of knowledge and skills. Authored by American University’s Seth Gershenson, “Great Expectations: The Impact of Rigorous Grading Practices on Student Achievement” examines to what extent teachers’ grading standards affect student… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Strategic Staffing? How Performance Pressures Affect the Distribution of Teachers within Schools and Resulting Student Achievement. CEPA Working Paper No. 15-15

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: School performance pressures apply disproportionately to tested grades and subjects. Using longitudinal administrative data and teacher survey data from a large urban school district, we examine schools’ responses to those pressures in assigning teachers to high-stakes and low-stakes classrooms. We find that teachers who produce greater student achievement gains in math and reading are more likely to be placed in a tested grade-subject combination in the following year and that the relationship between prior performance and assignment is stronger in schools where principals have more influence over assignments. This strategic response has the consequence of disadvantaging achievement in early grades, however, concentrating less effective teachers in K-2 classrooms, which in turn produces lower achievement for those students, as measured by low-stakes assessments, that may persist into tested… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – An Exploratory Analysis of Features of New Orleans Charter Schools Associated with Student Achievement Growth. REL 2018-287

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the number of charter schools in New Orleans has rapidly expanded. During the 2012/13 school year–the period covered by this study–of the 85 public schools in New Orleans, 75 were chartered, enrolling more than 84 percent of all public school students in the city in 92 different school campuses. This study explored organizational, operational, and instructional features of New Orleans charter schools serving grades 3-8 that are potential indicators of student achievement growth in English language arts (ELA), math, and science. The organizational characteristic of kindergarten provided as an entry grade was associated with higher levels of [value-added measures] VAM on the ELA test. The operational characteristic of an extended school year also was associated with higher levels of ELA VAM.… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Learning That Lasts: Unpacking Variation in Teachers’ Effects on Students’ Long-Term Knowledge. Working Paper 104

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Measures of teachers’ “value added” to student achievement play an increasingly central role in k-12 teacher policy and practice, in part because they have been shown to predict teachers’ long-term impacts on students’ life outcomes. However, little research has examined variation in the long-term effects of teachers with similar value-added performance. In this study, we investigate variation in the persistence of teachers’ value-added effects on student achievement in New York City. We separate persistent effects into general effects that improve both the subject taught (math or English language arts (ELA)) and the other area of measured achievement and subject-specific effects which improve only the subject taught. Two findings emerge. First, a teacher’s value-added to ELA achievement has substantial crossover effects on long-term math performance. That is, having… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Teacher and School Characteristics: Predictors of Student Achievement in Georgia Public Schools

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: Student achievement of fifth-grade students in 106 Georgia public schools in CRCT reading and mathematics was examined as a function of five characteristics of teachers and schools. The five independent variables used as predictors of CRCT scores were Title I status, teachers’ education level, teachers’ average years of experience, class size, and computer to student ratio. Designation as a Title I school was the strongest predictor of student achievement. When compared to non-Title I schools, Title I school status resulted in a higher percentage of students meeting CRCT standards in both reading and math and a lower percentage of students exceeding standards in both reading and mathematics. However, Title I school status also resulted in a higher percentage of students meeting standards on both the CRCT reading… Continue Reading

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Eric.ed.gov – Anthropological Analysis of Content Knowledge of Preservice Elementary Mathematics Teachers’ on Graphs

eric.ed.gov har udgivet: The purpose of this study is to analyse the content knowledge on graphs of pre-service elementary mathematics teachers from an anthropological perspective. 112 pre-service elementary mathematics teachers participated in the study. Concentric mixed pattern research method has been used in the study. The data was collected through Graphic Content Knowledge Scale and interview method in order to examine the content knowledge of primary school math teacher candidates related to graphics anthropologically. This scale which was developed within the frame of determined institutional recognitions includes graphic concept and its usage conditions, graphic types and different display forms, making proper transformations between graphics related to a given context, graphic reading, graphic interpreting and graphic drawing skills. In addition, for the purpose of having a more detailed review of the… Continue Reading