Examines the consequences of teachers' collegial social relations for high school students' mathematics and science achievement. Uses data that focused on 3,000 subjects in a national sample of public high schools (n=52). Finds that when department faculties form collegial foci the effects of their instructional practices on students' achievement…

Describes how two low-achieving, high-poverty school districts raised the test scores of their students. The El Centro school district's inquiry-science approach raised elementary science test scores, as well as mathematics and reading scores. Twin Falls improved test scores by adopting the Standardized Timed Curriculum, which involved components…

Suggests that computer and related technologies as tools for teaching, learning, and assessment are neither gender neutral nor benign in effect. Examines computers, equity, and access issues, computers as a technology, and the implications for computer-based assessment. (LZ)

Comparison of the transcripts of 2,098 high school graduates from 1982 and 1989 showed that vocational graduates made only small gains in math/science achievement. Most vocational graduates did not progress beyond general math or science courses. (SK)

The precipitous decline of U.S. students' scores on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) from 4th to 12th grade, compared with other nations, may be attributed to curriculum differences, not demography. The U.S. middle-school curriculum lacks focus and rigor and is highly repetitive. (MLH)

Analyzes data on eighth-grade mathematics and science achievement from the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) , with an emphasis on the international standing of the United States. Examines overall U.S. student achievement, the achievement of U.S. subpopulations, and the instructional practices of U.S. teachers. (Author/SLD)

Causal modeling techniques applied to data from 791 college students showed that parental encouragement in math and science significantly influenced achievement, which in turn influenced self-efficacy and outcome expectations. Results supported the role of family context in Lent et al.'s social cognitive career choice model. (Contains 40…

Suggests that when students improve their ability to code-switch from the local dialect (African American English) to Standard English, they improved their academic achievement, particularly in science and math. Indicates that future teachers need to be exposed to many different cultures and dialects in terms of teacher preparation. (SG)

Compared the effectiveness of an interdisciplinary dropout prevention science course with a traditional dropout prevention course. Analyses of process and recall skills from the district's science achievement tests revealed significant differences in academic performance for curriculum type, gender, and race/ethnicity, with no significant…

One of the four guiding principles of the National Science Education Standards is simply "science for all students" (NRC 1996). This principle underscores the belief that all students, regardless of race, gender, or disability, should have the opportunity to learn and understand the essential science content described in the Standards. Because of…

The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) represents the most comprehensive assessment of student achievement and educational contexts yet conducted. In order to provide a framework for assessing the effects of contextual factors on student achievement, a model was constructed to consider the unique effects of several factors…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the 'locality' of the relationship between attitudes towards science, self-beliefs and science achievement for senior high school students in Australia, Cyprus and the USA. These relationships were examined with the use of the structural equation modeling software, AMOS. The data for this study were…

This paper compares and contrasts school science achievement between two top scoring nations, Japan and Singapore, on the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) assessments. The first part of the study is devoted to examining cross-national comparisons on selected background questions administered in the TIMSS survey, while the…

The American Astronomical Society has recently developed an ambitious set of goals for introductory astronomy courses. How well does an introductory astronomy course based firmly on these goals actually do? In this article, an education student enrolled in such a class and the professor who taught it present an unvarnished analysis of one course…

In this paper, the authors report some of the salient findings of a large-scale, four-year national study, conducted at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, entitled "Factors Influencing College Science Success" (FICSS), which surveyed college students who enrolled in first-year biology, chemistry, and physics courses…