In a trend buoyed by new technology purchased to accommodate the remote learning necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, educators are increasingly using devices and apps to teach core subjects, including math. This report examines perceptions and experiences of teachers, principals, and district leaders around the use of such tools for math…

Before school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the frequency with which teachers used computer activities to teach a class varied across education systems. However, many teachers across the board reported the need for professional development to teach using technical devices. Using results from TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and…

This study sought to investigate whether there were performance differences between the children who engaged with the Ignite by Hatch™ educational gaming system using the English- or Spanish-language versions of the games. Differential item functioning methods (DIF) were employed to investigate these differences. Specifically, DIF analyses can…

This is the second of 2 reports that look at the results of TIMSS 2023 and Australia's performance. This report, Volume II, presents the results from the contextual questionnaires, and examines the home, school, and classroom contexts in which learning and achievement occur, as well as student attitudes. Each chapter focuses on different…

This technical report provides information about the sample, survey instrument, and resultant data for the American Instructional Resources Surveys (AIRS) that were administered to principals and teachers in spring 2019 via RAND's American Educator Panels. The AIRS focused on instructional resources used and supported in English language arts,…

The objective of this study is to better understand the process by which K-12 school districts select curricula materials in four critical subject areas: Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, and History and Social Studies. This research has two primary goals: (1) to understand the process by which K-12 school districts select and adopt…

This report presents findings from RAND's evaluation of the Appalachian Renaissance Initiative (ARI) in 17 districts totaling 99 kindergarten-12th grade schools within the Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC). The initiative took place from the 2014-2015 through 2017-2018 academic years. The evaluation examined various aspects of ARI…

There is a dearth of literature that use research design for causal inference that estimate the effect of information and communications technology (ICT) programs on literacy outcomes in early primary, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are several programs that have used ICT at a large scale, including Los Angeles, Peru, Nicaragua, Rwanda…

Over the past several years, research teams have developed observational instruments to measure the quality of teachers' instructional practices. Instruments such as Framework for Teaching (FFT) and the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) assess general teaching practices, including student-teacher interactions, behavior management, and…

This report examines the impact of content-intensive Professional Development (PD) on teachers' math content knowledge, their instructional practice, and their students' achievement. The study's PD had three components, totaling 93 hours. The core of the PD was "Intel Math," an intensive 80-hour workshop delivered in summer 2013 that…

Reading, writing and literature, mathematics, natural sciences and foreign languages are recognised as core subjects in all European countries. But how much time do students spend on those subjects at school, and how much does this instruction time vary across countries? This report provides information about the recommended minimum instruction…

The MIND Research Institute contracted with the Evaluation Research Program at WestEd to conduct an independent assessment of mathematics outcomes in elementary school grades across California that were provided with the ST Math program. Spatial-Temporal (ST) Math is a game-based instructional software designed to boost K-5 and secondary-level…

In spring 2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) began planning a pilot of an application for the Apple iPad, "HMH Fuse: Algebra 1," which was then in development. The application was to be piloted in four California school districts during the 2010-2011 school year. HMH contracted with Empirical Education Inc. to conduct a one-year…

This paper reports on the effects the use of a pocket calculator-based computer algebra system (CAS) has on the performance in mathematics of grade 11 students in Germany. A project started at 8 of about one hundred upper secondary schools in the federal state of Thuringia in 1999; 3 years later the former restrictions on the use of technology in…

In 2010-11, Wake County Public School System (WCPSS), North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI), and SMART Technologies began a two-year collaboration to promote the use of formative assessment in mathematics classrooms at three Wake County public schools: Millbrook Elementary, East Millbrook Middle, and Millbrook High school. The…