The Bologna Declaration brought reforms into higher education that imply changes in teaching methods, didactic materials and textbooks, infrastructures and laboratories, etc. Statistics and mathematics are disciplines that traditionally have the worst success rates, particularly in non-mathematics core curricula courses. This research project,…

"Straight A's: Public Education Policy and Progress" is a biweekly newsletter that focuses on education news and events both in Washington, DC and around the country. The following articles are included in this issue: (1) "Setting the Stage for New High Schools": Alliance, National League of Cities Cohost Capitol Hill Briefing…

Over the past decade, standardized test results have become the primary tool used to judge the effectiveness of schools and educational programs, and today, standardized testing serves as the keystone for educational policy at the state and federal levels. This paper examines the relationship between fourth grade mathematics achievement and…

A phenomenon previously noted in prior prediction of mathematics scores on the Content Mastery Examinations for Educators (CMEE) of the National Teacher Examinations Core Battery subtests of General Knowledge (NTE-GK) and Communication Skills (NTE-CS) was investigated. Prior research with 1991-1992 data sets had established an equation for the…

The achievement of the 44 Crockett high school students, in Austin, Texas, who participated in the Principles of Technology Program during the 1987-1988 school year was assessed, with the following findings; (1) 14 second-year students answered 30 percent more items correctly on the posttest than on the pretest; (2) the second-year students…

Presents a study testing the hypothesis that students of informal as opposed to formal teachers would score better on the Richmond work-study tests than on the language and mathematics tests. Results find differences between formal and informal classes to be insignificant but individual students to differ in hypothesized directions. (Author/AEM)

Considered are three different types of paper-and-pencil items: labeled word statements, symbolizations, and portrayals. The items are used for testing understanding of mathematical concepts. Limitations of pencil-and-paper items are noted. (RH)

Item response curves for a set of binary responses are studied from a Bayesian viewpoint of estimating the item parameters. For the two-parameter logistic model with normally distributed ability, restricted bivariate beta priors are used to illustrate the computation of the posterior mode via the EM algorithm. (Author/LMO)

GED "Scoreboost" materials target exactly the skills one needs to pass the General Educational Development (GED) tests. This book focuses on preparing for the GED mathematics test. It provides 16 strategies for developing the skills needed for measurement and data analysis. These are: (1) review the standard units of measurement; (2)…

GED "Scoreboost" materials target exactly the skills one needs to pass the General Educational Development (GED) tests. This book focuses on the GED Mathematics test. To prepare for the test, the test taker needs to learn skills in number and operation sense, data and statistics, geometry and measurement, and algebra. To pass the test,…

This study reports the results of the pre and post mathematics test administered to student participants of the 2001 Summer Bridge Program, sponsored by the Minority Engineering, Mathematics and Science Department (MEMS) at the University of New Mexico (UNM). There was a four-week time span between the administration of the standardized test,…

This summary explains how a student's relative standing in a particular group, as measured by a percentile score, is the same regardless of whether that student's score is on the SAT scale established in 1941 or on the recentered SAT scale, established with a 1990 reference group, and introduced in 1995.

Four issues associated with calculator-available assessments are discussed: (1) benefits and problems of calculator use; (2) components of various types of calculator-available assessments; (3) construction of calculator-available assessments; and (4) the need for additional examination of items included on calculator-available assessments. (SLD)

Children with arithmetic learning disabilities (n=16) and normally achieving controls (n=16) in grades 3-5 were administered a battery of computerized tasks. Memory spans for both letters and digits were found to be smaller among the arithmetic learning disabled children. Implications for teaching are discussed. (Author/CMS)

Because the Reagan and Bush administrations accentuated the negative about American schools, there was little mention of U.S. students' average performance on the geography part of the 1992 Second International Assessment of Educational Progress. On the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (1994), U.S. eighth graders finished slightly…