The motivation for this paper is the authors' recent work on several randomized control trials in which they found the primary result, which averaged across subgroups or sites, to be moderated by demographic or site characteristics. They are led to examine a distinction that the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) makes between "confirmatory"…

This article provides an overview of recent interest research, focusing on the conceptualization, measurement, and generation of interest. It includes work that reflects differing theoretical backgrounds, research traditions, domains, and participants. Research on interest needs to be theoretically grounded if it is to be generally applicable and…

The widespread and increasing use of cooperative learning is one of the great success stories of social and educational psychology. Its success largely rests on the relationships among theory, research, and practice. Social interdependence theory provides a foundation on which cooperative learning is built. More than 1,200 research studies have…

How many students repeat a grade each year? How do retention rates vary across states and over time? Despite extensive research on the predictors and consequences of grade retention, there is no systematic way to quantify state-level retention rates; even national estimates rely on imperfect proxy measures. We present a conceptually simple…

The problem is that 5th-grade students are not achieving sufficient writing scores on Georgia state-mandated writing assessments, which the researcher hypothesized was due to the teacher-directed instructional approach utilized at the school. The purpose of this mixed-methods study was to determine whether discovery learning, a method based on the…

Background: This study deals with the application of concept mapping to the teaching and learning of a science topic with secondary school students in Germany. Purpose: The main research questions were: (1) Do different teaching approaches affect concept map structure or students' learning success? (2) Is the structure of concept maps influenced…

In the "PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) 2006 Encyclopedia," each participating country, 39 in total, describes its education system and the reading curriculum as it is intended to be taught, and outlines the polices and practices that guide reading instruction and teacher education. This in-depth, qualitative…