The Education Council of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) commissioned a review of the current approach to the presentation of the National Assessment Program -- Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) data including information published on the "My School" website. The review was framed by four Terms of Reference, namely: (1)…

This study used qualitative data to analyze how fathers in a rural Pennsylvania prison were involved in their children's literacy, learning, and education before and during incarceration and through the Read to Your Child/Grandchild (RYCG) program. Before RYCG, most fathers took steps such as reading to children, teaching reading and math,…

Accountability mandates linked to state education standards and assessments have largely replaced play in early childhood classrooms. This approach limits educators' opportunities by preventing them from using play as a means of identifying and expanding children's diverse range of competencies. In this ethnographic case study, we explore how…

This research studies the critical thinking skills of six teenagers in their final years of high school. It looks at the way those students use a set of cognitive skills in order to analyze scientific and pseudoscientific information available in online news articles. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six students chosen according to…

This study examined developmental profiles of reading fluency and reading comprehension in Grades 1 to 9 (ages 7 to 15) in a large Finnish sample (N = 2,518). In addition, early predictors of the profiles were analyzed with respect to kindergarten cognitive skills (phonological awareness, letter knowledge, rapid automized naming [RAN], number…

This article reports on the experiences of teachers at a small rural school located in the North Coast region of New South Wales in Australia who participated in a school improvement project based on an approach developed over many years by David Townsend and Pam Adams in Alberta, Canada. The project involved monthly meetings between the teachers…

In this article, we map the extent of educational inequality within Tasmania, and between Tasmania and the rest of Australia, using "National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy" (NAPLAN) and senior secondary attainment data. This analysis yields some surprising findings, showing the success of Tasmanian primary and high schools…

This study explored how physical punishment (PP) and other parenting approaches may predict school readiness outcomes. By using the Canada-wide representative data, 5,513 children were followed over a 2-year period. Caregivers reported on their use of PP and other parenting approaches (i.e., literacy and learning activities and other disciplinary…

This study investigated the effectiveness of the Full-Day Early Learning Kindergarten (FDELK) programme, which integrates play-based learning and team teaching, in promoting 32,027 kindergarteners' self-regulation (SR), literacy, and numeracy outcomes. Outcome measures derived from teacher reports of students' school readiness in the Early…

A Number Talk is a brief activity (10-15 minutes in length) that is designed to support students' mathematical sense making and promote flexible thinking. During a Number Talk, students engage in mental computations. Number Talks help students do the following: (1) Develop number sense focused on making sense of quantity and mathematical…

The enduring monolingual mindset in English-speaking countries results in widespread belief that additional language learning takes time away from literacy in the societal language. Yet, extensive research has shown that time spent learning additional languages enhances learners' literacy skills, providing first language literacy is sufficiently…

The United Nations has set forth an ambitious vision for education systems around the globe: cultivating life-long learning from early childhood through an individual's civic and work life. Schools must support children and youth in basic learning--including crucial socio-emotional, literacy, and numeracy competencies--to contribute to sustainable…

College-educated immigrants in the United States are more likely to have advanced degrees and to major in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields than their U.S.-born peers with college degrees. But their educational levels have not always translated into occupational gains: They are more likely than U.S.-born workers to be…

More than 10 million U.S. workers with college degrees, or one in six, are immigrants. While many have found jobs that make full use of their education and skills, nearly a quarter are underemployed, that is, they are either working in jobs that require no more than a high school diploma or are out of work. Tackling immigrants' skill…

In this commentary we take a critical look at the various studies being reported in this issue about the relationship between cognitive neuroscience and mathematics, from a mathematics education viewpoint. After a discussion of the individual contributions, which we have grouped into three categories--namely neuroscientific studies of (a)…