In his State of the Nation address on 7 February 2019, the president of the Republic of South Africa. Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa, stated that the government would provide digital workbooks and textbooks to every school child in South Africa by 2025. (De Villiers, 2019). This announcement begs the question how effective the incorporation of Information…

This study examines the nature and implications of peer academic reputations in math and science classes for early adolescents' achievement beliefs and behaviors. The sample was 840 students (51% girls; 36% African American, 47% European American, 7% Latino, 6% Asian American, and 3% Other). About half the sample (47%) was from 27 fifth-grade…

Little is known empirically about intraclass correlations (ICCs) for multisite cluster randomized trial (MSCRT) designs, particularly in science education. In this study, ICCs suitable for science achievement studies using a three-level (students in schools in districts) MSCRT design that block on district are estimated and examined. Estimates of…

A cluster-randomized trial (CRT) relies on random assignment of intact clusters to treatment conditions, such as classrooms or schools (Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002). One specific type of CRT, a multi-site CRT (MSCRT), is commonly employed in educational research and evaluation studies (Spybrook & Raudenbush, 2009; Spybrook, 2014; Bloom,…

These appendices accompany the report "Final Report of the i3 Impact Study of Making Sense of SCIENCE, 2016-17 through 2017-18." Science education has experienced a significant transition over the last decade, catalyzed by a re-envisioning of what students should know and be able to do in science. That re-envisioning culminated in the…

A recent study in the USA documented the existence and growth of "excellence gaps" among students. These gaps are similar to the minimum competency achievement gaps that proliferate in policy discussions in many Western countries, but excellence gaps focus on the highest level of achievement rather than minimum competency. We extend this…