This collaborative inquiry between an academic (James Russo) and two school-based practitioners (Jessie McCosh and Travis Hewish) explores student attitudes towards learning mathematics through problem solving in a medium sized primary school in regional Victoria.

The NWEA® state dashboard, Exploring the Educational Impacts of COVID-19, provides insight into the educational impacts of COVID-19 related academic disruptions for students in public schools within a state who participated in MAP® Growth™ assessments. This guide explains the analyses, statistics, terms, and data included in the dashboard, as well…

This Study Snapshot highlights key findings from a study on why students often experience a decline in academic achievement as they transition to middle school. Academic mindsets, such as a belief in the malleability of ability (growth mindset) or a reluctance to engage academically because of embarrassment or a fear of failure (performance…

This Study Snapshot highlights key findings from a study that examined how attaining English proficiency and being reclassified as fluent English proficient affected achievement in English language arts and math in the first year after student reclassification in grades 3-8 in New Mexico. New Mexico established a state-level policy that requires…

The Austin Independent School District (AISD) offered several academic summer programs to students June through August 2021. These programs offered students opportunities to accelerate their learning, recover academic course credits, and support grade level transition. Although AISD offered a variety of summer programs in 2021, this report focuses…

The purpose of this report is to describe the technical qualities of the 2018-2019 operational administration of the English language arts/literacy (ELA/L) and mathematics summative assessments in grades 3 through 8 and high school. The ELA/L assessments focus on reading and comprehending a range of sufficiently complex texts independently and…

The purpose of this report is to describe the technical qualities of the 2018-2019 operational administration of the English language arts/literacy (ELA/L) and mathematics assessments in grades 3 through 8 and high school. New Meridian, in coordination with multiple states and vendors, developed an alternate form of the summative assessment to…

STEM Pathways aims to increase youths' long-term interest, learning, and achievement in STEM through a deliberate and interconnected system of STEM learning opportunities. In fall 2014 and spring 2015, a survey was administered to fourth- and fifth-grade students at the six STEM Pathways schools in Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS). Most of the…

The purpose of this article is to describe and demonstrate a three-step process of using differential distractor functioning (DDF) in a post hoc analysis to understand sources of differential item functioning (DIF) in multiple-choice testing. The process is demonstrated on two multiple-choice tests that used complex alternatives (e.g., "No…

Teachers and researchers work hard to discover the most effective ways of teaching mathematics in the primary classroom. When searching for new tasks to teach or ways to adapt a task to fit the class's profile, they often "phone a friend," drawing on the know-how and knowledge of colleagues and experts. Other articles in this issue…

The present study set out to develop a self-report instrument, the Depressive Symptoms Questionnaire (DSQ), for assessing depressed mood in school-aged children. Included were items based on research that reported symptoms of depressed mood in children, items related to negative psychosocial functioning, and items related to self-perceived…

This article described a national study in Vietnam whereby a probability sample of students was chosen from each of the 61 provinces. A reading test consisting of 60 items was administered. The items were matched to the Vietnam reading and language curriculum for Year 5 students. Using a skills audit of the items, a variable of reading development…

This report describes district-level results from the 2007-2008 AISD Student Climate Survey.

Normative trends and behavioral predictors for three dimensions of social relatedness were examined in a 6-month longitudinal study of 383 students in Grades 3, 4 and 5. Student reports of social relatedness (teacher supportiveness, school supportiveness, loneliness) and liking school indicated that students in each of the grades felt less…

"Adults don't listen to me because they don't think I have anything interesting to say," an eleven-year-old boy explained to the authors of this article during one of the after-school focus groups that took place at Homer (Michigan) Community Schools. However, as part of the Youth Participatory Evaluation (YPE) team's effort to evaluate…