The impact of personalizing mathematical word problems and rewording them for explicitness was tested with 68 second and 59 fifth graders. Second graders benefited from personalization and rewording in combination; fifth graders benefited from personalization, not rewording. Personalization makes problems more motivating and easier to represent…

In this study we investigated above-average high school calculus students from Japan and the United States in order to determine any differences in their conceptual understanding of calculus and their ability to use algebra to solve traditional calculus problems. We examined and interviewed 18 Calculus BC students in the United States and 26…

How do students react to being told that they have failed a test required for high school graduation? In 2000, 7,989 students were wrongly informed that they had failed the Minnesota Basic Standards Test in mathematics. The authors conducted a survey of 911 of these students to assess the psychosocial impact of this event. More than 80% of…

Background: A longitudinal study investigated the cognitive skills and scholastic attainments at 8 years of age of children selected on the basis of poor phonological loop skills at 5 years. Methods: Children with low and average performance at 5 years were tested three years later on measures of working memory, phonological awareness, vocabulary,…

This study examined scores on second, third and fourth grade reading and mathematics tests to determine the effects of beginning school age on later school success. The analysis involved 352 participants in one rural school district in Western New York. Participants were divided into three groups: (a) age appropriate for entrance to school, (b)…

Transcripts of 19,736 students who consecutively attended Florida high schools for four years and graduated in the spring of 1994 were analyzed to determine how course choice, grades, tenth grade standardized test score results, race, and gender affected performance on a computerized placement test (CPT) administered upon entry to community…

Presented at the Annual National Council on Measurement in Education (NCME) in New York in March 2008. This presentation explores how different item weighting can affect the effective weights, validity coefficents and test reliability of composite scores among test takers.

While a growing body of research reveals the beneficial effects of music on education performance the value of music in educating the young child is not being recognized. If research of students in the school system indicates that learning through the arts can benefit the "whole" child, that math achievement scores are significantly…

The New Jersey Grade 11 High School Proficiency Test (HSPT11) consists of sections for reading, mathematics, and writing that must be passed as requirements for a high school diploma. Students who do not pass all three sections receive additional instruction and retake sections they have not passed. This booklet helps educators review, interpret,…

Hawaii uses the eighth edition of the Stanford Achievement Test (Stanford 8) to assess academic performance of the student population in grades 3, 6, 8, and 10. Hawaii was not included in the norming for the Stanford 8, neither for the national nor the Pacific norms. In this study, Hawaii norms were developed based on the Stanford 8 reading and…

The Multidimensional Motivation Instrument and the Classroom Environment Scale were used to examine the effects of the variables motivation (achievement motivation, academic self-concept, social self-concept, and emotional self-concept) and the classroom learning environment (involvement, affiliation, teacher support, task orientation, order and…

In 1992, a study was conducted at Golden West College (California) to determine the predictive validity of the Math Diagnostic Testing Project (MDTP) tests. A total of 1,137 students were tested in-class; 601 took the Algebra Readiness test, 376 took the Elementary Algebra test, and 160 took the Intermediate Algebra test. Two correlation…

The Measurement and Evaluation Center of the University of Texas at Austin conducted a standard-setting study in 1991 to reassess the use of the College Board's Achievement Tests in mathematics, Level I and Level II for course placement and credit by examination in an elementary functions and coordinate geometry course. Students in 20 sections of…

Each year at the Greater Lawrence Technical School (Massachusetts), students are identified who lack the necessary basic skills to successfully complete a typical high school program. This problem led to the development of an alternative instructional program designed to accomplish remediation in the basic skills using computer-based instruction.…

This report contains preliminary results from the 1992 mathematics assessment by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) of nationally representative samples of about 26,000 4th, 8th and 12th grade students in 1,500 public schools and private schools in 44 states; and compares data to findings from the 1990 NAEP mathematics tests.…