This manuscript describes a quantitative literacy course focusing on issues of economic and racial justice, developed for a summer bridge program. The curriculum for the course, described in the manuscript, consisted of open-ended assignments that dealt with real-world issues and required basic modeling skills; whereas the culminating assignment…

The reported research attempts to trace possible reasons for third grade learners' limited progress in numeracy in a low socioeconomic status (SES) South African context. This is done through two lenses, both stemming from Sfard's commognitive (The term "commognition" has been offered by Sfard (2008) as an amalgam of…

Increasing the level of educational attainment of the population may not always increase the social benefits for those who receive the education. In fact, when a high percentage of the population attains a certain level of education, that attainment ceases to provide socioeconomic benefits; instead, those few who have not reached that educational…

An important class of applications of measurement error or constrained factor analytic models consists of comparing models for several populations. In such cases, it is appropriate to make explicit statistical tests of model similarity across groups and to constrain some parameters of the models to be equal across groups using a priori substantive…

The methods used by Humphreys and Dachler to estimate effects in their analysis of Project TALENT data to test Jensen's Theory of Intelligence are shown to produce biased estimates. (Author/TA)

Inequalities in schooling may be seen in relation to two types of educational outcomes: quality and quantity (or achievement and attainment). The qualitative dimension, a major concern of Coleman, Campbell, Hobson, McPartland, Mood, Weinfeld, and York are considered first, followed by the Blau-Duncan and Wisconsin studies of years of schooling…

A model is presented for the effects of compulsory high school attendance and the relationship between the percent completing high school and the benefits associated with high school completion. Some of the characteristics of this nation's educational system are discussed, and a normative principle is stated that those having a greater share of…

The review indicates that refined measures of the family environment and the use of complex statistical models increase the understanding of the relationships between socioeconomic status, sibling variables, family environment, and cognitive development. (RC)

A three-equation simultaneous regression model was developed with regular education spending, the prevalence of handicapped children, and handicapped spending as endogenous variables. A tentative test of the model was made using recently available data from the Wisconsin special needs assessment survey and supplementary special education aids…

Uses a model of student and school behavior to simulate effects of differing voucher amounts on students in different income categories, drawing on two major assumptions concerning service delivery and competition. Poor youngsters would not be better off under voucher system. Even under highly favorable conditions, a systemic choice system would…

To determine to what extent children of preschool age comprehend the meaning of logical connectives, 64 5- and 6-year-olds were told to hand differently colored and shaped wooden blocks to an experimenter. The commands involved various English idioms used for conjunction (e.g. both black and round), disjunction (either black or round), and…

Designed for evaluation and program planning and budgeting, the model presented herein provides a framework for estimating the contribution of individual manpower services in increasing the earning potential of manpower trainees with various sets of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The model shows how to maximize total increase in…

An alternative way of studying group differences is proposed based on ordering analysis using item hierarchies as a basis of comparison between two groups. Subjects were sets of twins in elementary school. Results showed that blacks and whites and males and females had similar item hierarchies for complex items. (Author/LMO)

To test for item bias, it must be determined whether an item fits the model. Two approaches to defining bias within the framework of the Rasch model are examined. One compares within-group fit mean squares and the other utilizes a between-group fit statistic. Results from both approaches overlap somewhat, but are distinct in many different but…

Presents a model of college entrance that focuses on the influences of public policy and the economic environment, and the interaction of these factors with student ability and parental income. (TA)