This paper's objective was to teach the Equivalence Testing applied to Educational Research to emphasize recommendations and to increase quality of research. Equivalence Testing is a technique used to compare effect sizes or means of two different studies to ascertain if they would be statistically equivalent. For making accessible Equivalence…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), has made an effort to increase the use of technology and the use of calculators into the classroom and curriculum. As a result, many studies and articles have been written on the subject of calculator use in the classroom. A review of over 600 studies revealed that it is not curricula that…

We focus on the identification of differential item functioning (DIF) when more than two groups of examinees are considered. We propose to consider items as elements of a multivariate space, where DIF items are outlying elements. Following this approach, the situation of multiple groups is a quite natural case. A robust statistics technique is…

Quantitative literacy has been recognized as an important skill in the higher education and workforce communities, focusing on problem solving, reasoning, and real-world application. As a result, there is a need by various stakeholders in higher education and workforce communities to evaluate whether college students receive sufficient training on…

The purpose of this study was to use differential item functioning (DIF) and latent mixture model analyses to explore factors that explain performance differences on a large-scale mathematics assessment between examinees allowed to use a calculator or who were afforded item presentation accommodations versus those who did not receive the same…

This study explored the performance of sixth grade students with and without disabilities on a mathematics assessment aligned to state standards when provided a calculator as an accommodation. The study utilized a pre/posttest design. No student was given access to a calculator on the pretest, and approximately half of the students were randomly…

Purpose: The ecological footprint represents a simple way to assess the amount of materials consumed and waste produced by a given entity. The approach has been applied to countries, towns, households, and more recently university campuses. One of the challenges of using the ecological footprint at a university is the difficulty of determining how…

Governments and other stakeholders have become increasingly interested in assessing the skills of their adult populations in order to monitor how well prepared they are to meet the challenges of the new information world. The current paper provides an overview of the conceptual framework for the assessment of numeracy developed for the OECD's…

This paper makes an in-depth comparison of the PISA (OECD) and TIMSS (IEA) mathematics assessments conducted in 2003. First, a comparison of survey methodologies is presented, followed by an examination of the mathematics frameworks in the two studies. The methodologies and the frameworks in the two studies form the basis for providing…

Little is known about how best to teach mathematics to students with learning disabilities. This study explored the performance and self-reported calculator use of 13 sixth-grade and 15 seventh-grade students with learning disabilities educated in either standards-based or traditional mathematics curricula on multiple-choice and open-ended…

Reviews the use of a programmable hand-held calculator for evaluating a student's performance on a quantitative laboratory experiment. (SL)

Fourteen research reports related to mathematics education are abstracted and analyzed. Five studies deal with aspects of mathematics instruction, and there are four reports each on mathematics achievement and on two cognitive processes. The remaining items concern calculators, attitudes, and aptitude-treatment interaction. Research related to…

The course was developed to instruct students in the use of mechanical and/or electronic printing calculators, electronic display calculators, and rotary calculators to solve special business problems with occupational proficiency. Included in the document are a list of performance objectives, a course content outline, suggested learning…

This books contains papers written on issues related to externally mandated mathematics tests and their influence on school mathematics. Chapter 1 presents an overview of the book, including brief abstracts of each chapter. Chapter 2 presents a summary of the overall problems associated with the need for valid information. Remaining chapters…

This annual report by the Developmental Mathematics Curriculum Committee (DMCC) of the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC) includes seven subcommittee reports. After introductory material, the annual report outlines the DMCC's goals, enumerates its objectives for 1981 through 1986, and establishes revised goals for the…