This study aims to understand the predictive role of attitudes towards problem solving, such as perseverance and openness for problem solving, as well as of gender and country for Canadian and Finnish students' academic achievement in mathematics and science. We examined the data of students from Canada (n = 21,544) and Finland (n = 8,829) who…

While there is a wealth of research evidencing the benefits of active-learning approaches, the extent to which these teaching practices are adopted in the sciences is not well known. The aim of this study is to establish an evidential baseline of teaching practices across a bachelor of science degree program at a large research-intensive…

This study investigated effective teaching factors and student reading strategies as predictors of student reading achievement in the United States and China. Participants were 10,348 students in the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) study, 5115 from China and 5233 from the United States. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)…

Learning strategies, such as memorization and elaboration strategies, have received both support and repudiation. The 2009 international PISA reading, science, and mathematics achievement test and survey of 15 year-olds in 65 countries was used. The findings indicated that self-reported use of learning strategies, which involve compensatory…

This paper examines student attitudes towards school and learning among students in Qatar's public schools. Drawing upon student surveys administered to 1091 grade 7 and 8 students in 11 independent preparatory schools, the paper observes patterns of attitudes and behavior towards learning, school, and future aspirations. Findings show that…

Class size reduction policies have been widely implemented around the world in recent years. However, findings about the effects of class size on student achievement have been mixed. This study examines class size effects on fourth-grade mathematics achievement in 14 European countries using data from TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and…

Background: The present study investigates what factors related to the school context influence student achievement on TIMSS mathematics tests across countries. A systematic review of the literature on PIRLS, TIMSS, and ICCS was conducted upstream to identify those school, teacher, and classroom factors shown to be useful predictors of student…

Using an international educational database, PISA 2009, this study investigates and analyzes 15-year-old students' attitudes toward school in 11 Asia-Pacific units (country, city, or area). For each unit, the study demonstrates four types of students' attitudes toward school, compares male and female students, and examines the relationships of the…

This paper studies the link between school facilities (buildings and grounds) and student achievement in eight countries using data from the TIMSS 2003 database. The results indicate a negative relationship, but the estimated coefficients are mainly insignificant. Interestingly, the coefficients differ heavily across countries. Whereas there seem…

This study examined the influence of classroom pedagogic reading practices and out-of-school practices in explaining why the reading attainment of Hong Kong Grade 4 students was superior to that of their counterparts in Taiwan in the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Analyses of scores from 9,301 students (4,712 from Hong Kong…

Problem Statement: Teacher self-efficacy is important factor for school and student success. This study investigates the variables that explain teacher self-efficacy in Turkey and South Korea according to TALIS 2008 data. A detailed comparison was conducted and the state of the teaching profession in both countries is discussed. Purpose of the…

For decades, the international education community has focused on schools as the primary vehicle of learning. However, learning assessments in dozens of developing nations show that repeated attempts to affect student learning in schools have largely failed. Because students with perfect attendance in low-resource settings spend less than 25…

Background: World university rankings have been around for a decade and there are several such systems competing for the attention of higher education institutions. A frequent criticism is that they have a bias toward English-speaking countries and sciences; Europe and the Latin America have been vocal about this and are working on alternatives.…

The aim of this study is to examine whether the expansion of higher education across countries is associated with the growth of shadow education as a function of families' efforts to ensure attainment of educational opportunities. To address this research objective, this study samples approximately 163,000 students, nested in 21 Organization for…

Background: Low-stakes assessments do not have consequences for the test-takers. Currently, motivational research indicates that a lack of test-taking motivation can decrease students' performance in low-stakes assessments. However, little research has explored the domain-specific and situation-specific aspects of motivation simultaneously.…