The purpose of the present study is to test the validity of scores on the Homework Purpose Scale (HPS) for middle school students. The participants were 1,181 eighth graders in the southeastern United States, including (a) 699 students in urban school districts and (b) 482 students in rural school districts. First, confirmatory factor analysis was…

Gifted high school students are essentially absent in the research concerning academic integrity; however, over the past few years, educators of gifted students have noticed an increase in the occurrences of academic dishonesty among students in gifted classrooms (Abilock, 2009). This research may be analyzed to provide some insight into the…

Students (N=302) in Chinese elementary schools were assessed regarding their academic delay of gratification (ADOG) and reported the time they devoted to non-school study and playtime during an extended interval prior to taking a high-stakes final exam. Students high compared those low in ADOG were more likely to spend time studying and less time…

Although many have documented the high value Latino families place on education, prevalent discourses nonetheless characterize Latino immigrant parents as not caring about their children's education. This paper describes the practice-based components of a participatory action research project in which we created a collaborative film, intended for…

Technological and pedagogical advances in distance education have accentuated the necessity for higher education to keep pace regarding institutional infrastructures. Each infrastructure--driven by a common mission to provide quality learning--interprets quality according to standards established by various governmental and accrediting entities.…

Background/Context: Despite the best intentions to close the achievement gap, the underachievement of African American students in science is a persistent problem. It is surprising to note, however, that research on science education has often failed to consider students' cultural diversity as it relates to science education. On the few occasions…

This applied dissertation was designed to provide better understanding of issues related to parental involvement to school officials and scholars. The parental involvement at the school was very low and academic achievement was also low. The school leaders were requested to increase parental involvement and the School Improvement Plan specified…

Introduction: The main objective of this study is (a) to investigate whether cognitive styles and working memory capacity could predict mathematical performance and which variable is relatively most important in predicting mathematical performance and b) to explore whether cognitive styles and working memory capacity could predict mathematical…

This study focuses on teacher learning of student thinking through grading homework, assessing and analyzing misconceptions. The data were collected from 10 teachers at fifth-eighth grade levels in the USA. The results show that assessing and analyzing misconceptions from grading homework is an important approach to acquiring knowledge of…

Background: Students continue to struggle with homework distraction well into the secondary school years. Recently, the concern over homework distraction has been growing, as new electronic media have offered diverse and nearly ubiquitous forms of diversion to students while they are doing homework. It is surprising to note, however, that a…

Over the years the amount of homework and what kind of homework students are completing on a nightly basis has changed dramatically. From the early 1900s when homework was abolished because it was considered a violation of child labor laws to today when after No Child Left Behind was enacted in 2002, the focus has moved to evaluating academic…

This author discusses her decision to move to secondary school to teach mathematics, after having taught and been a mathematics manager in primary schools for six years. She states that this was a valuable experience and sparked her interest in the transition experiences of students, particularly in mathematics. Research (Evangelou et al, 2008,…

Teachers and administrators at Health Sciences High and Middle College in San Diego, California, wanted to create a grading system that reflected understanding while still encouraging students to practice. They developed course competencies, or performance assessments, that teachers use to measure what students know and can do with the concepts…

This article is based on a study that documented the daily work practice of an eighth-grade mathematics teacher and her colleagues at a secondary school in Shanghai when they taught the unit on geometric proofs. Four interrelated work activities were identified to highlight a pedagogy around homework errors. They form an activity system…

A successful lecture that includes meaningful class discussions requires students to be familiar with the topics covered in the assigned reading. However, because college students frequently do not complete such reading prior to class, instructors are faced with the challenge of finding methods that would encourage students to do so. The purpose…