Research documents an income-based achievement gap in mathematics, yet children from lower-income backgrounds do not lag behind their more advantaged peers in high-level social reasoning tasks. The purpose here was to investigate whether modifying mathematics word problems to make them more socially based would impact the mathematics performance…

Every school system has to deal with children with Learning Disabilities (LD). However, the concepts of LD, the assessment procedures, the diagnostic criteria as well as their interpretation vary widely from country to country. What they usually seem to have in common is that general cognitive abilities, as measured by standardized IQ tests, are…

In this article, we highlight the need for a precisely defined construct in score-based validation and discuss the contribution of cognitive theories to accurately and comprehensively defining the construct. We propose a framework for integrating cognitively based theoretical and empirical evidence to specify and evaluate the construct. We apply…

Created by the U.S. Congress in 2006, the Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) represents the first federal initiative targeted directly at state and district efforts to introduce performance measures into educator compensation. TIF responds to a growing body of evidence that existing pay structures do not respond to labor force realities or adequately…

The 2011 NAEP-TIMSS linking study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) was designed to predict Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) scores for the U.S. states that participated in 2011 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics and science assessment of eighth-grade students.…

Though the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requires secondary students with Asperger's syndrome (AS) to take high-stakes mathematical tests, many students with AS exhibit weaknesses in mathematical and executive functioning skills. The purpose of this mixed-methods case study was to explore the use of differentiated mathematical strategies with…

The English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) program was developed to address the need to effectively integrate second language acquisition with quality content area instruction. English language learners (ELLs) have struggled on standardized tests and there has been little empirical evidence regarding the impact of the ELPS program on…

Concern about the academic and social well-being of public education in the United States has been at the forefront of education reform. Increased class sizes, amended curriculum standards, and accountability standards have guided the way toward ways to reduce class sizes to meet the demands put upon educators. This study investigated the…

Current legislation, such as No Child Left Behind (2001) or the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (2004), has increased accountability for schools for the education of all students. These laws require schools to provide interventions for struggling learners, as part of the Response to Intervention process (IDEA, 2004). Accelerated Math…

A MC (multiple-choice) question can be defined as a question in which students are asked to select one alternative from a given set of alternatives in response to a question stem. The objective of this paper is to analyse if MC questions may be considered as an interesting alternative for assessing knowledge, particularly in the mathematics area,…

The growing epidemic of male underachievement has spawned a great deal of research in the recent past. This body of research has been inconclusive in determining the causes of the problem. This Capstone Project looked at six factors to determine if any of them had a significant effect on the math achievement of either gender. This study was…

The goal of this study was to determine whether adult students incarcerated at a large correctional facility in New England use the provided scientific calculator appropriately when taking the Official GED Practice Test in mathematics. 13 students were interviewed after taking a practice test and asked for their strategy for solving each problem.…

This article comments on an earlier article by professors Yates and Beaudrie (2009) who examined whether online assessment facilitates student cheating and found no evidence of such a greater prevalence of cheating. Professors Yates and Beaudrie are commended for their contribution to this increasingly important area of research. The analysis…

Multivariate matching in Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analyses may contribute to understand the sources of DIF. In this context, detecting appropriate additional matching variables is a crucial issue. This present article argues that the variables which are correlated with communalities in item difficulties can be used as an additional…

Maintaining America's productivity as a nation depends importantly on developing a highly qualified cadre of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and other professionals. To realize that objective requires a system of schooling that produces students with advanced math and science skills. To see how well schools in the United States do at…