Long known as a college-football powerhouse, the University of Alabama (UA) is now considered a model for institutions seeking to maintain or boost their academic quality even as enrollments increase and budgets are squeezed. According to Carol Twigg, president of the National Center for Academic Transformation (NCAT), which has been a significant…

A popular humorist and avowed mathphobe once declared that in real life, there's no such thing as algebra. Kathie Wilson knows better. Most of the students in her 8th grade class will be thrust into algebra, the definitive course that heralds the beginning of high school mathematics, next school year. The problem: Many of them are about three…

Three teacher researchers conducted this action research project to increase their 54 high school students' achievements in mathematics. The teacher researchers had noticed a trend of low scores on teacher-made chapter tests and non-completion of daily homework. Standardized tests showed that most students scored below average on the mathematics…

Over the past ten years, traditional lecture style delivery has given way to computer-aided instruction (CAI) in post-secondary education. Developmental mathematics courses have been one of the most widely used applications. At a small community college in the Mississippi Delta, a computer assisted version of Intermediate Algebra was implemented.…

The purpose of this study is to rigorously examine the implementation and impact of the Early College High School (ECHS) model in North Carolina. The primary goal of the ECHS model is to increase the number of students who graduate from high school and who continue on and succeed in college. Therefore, the anticipated long-term outcomes for the…

This paper provides information about Mississippi Subject Area Testing Program. The purpose of the exam is to: (1) Determine prospective high school graduates' mastery of the state curriculum; (2) Provide data to state policymakers on student attainment of state education goals to inform education policy decisions; (2) Increase alignment of local…

This paper reports the overall findings of research on effective teaching practices in Wake County Public Schools (WCPSS). It is a cross-case analysis of five earlier studies (Biology, Algebra I, U.S. History, middle school Algebra I, and English I). Despite subject implementation differences, four common themes were found: (1) high academic…

Some students--and parents--think math and science are not too important for their future. As everyday life becomes more dependent on technology, most people will need a better background in math and science to succeed in today's global economy. To get high-paying jobs in some of California's fastest-growing occupations, a strong background in…

Although academic performance is a concern, African American students represent less than 8 percent of California's K-12 students, and at times get lost in California policy debates about improving student performance. Findings of this study indicate that: (1) California's African American students are concentrated in relatively few counties and…

The study investigated the effect of using mathematics laboratory in teaching on students' achievement in Junior Secondary School Mathematics. A total of 100 JS 3 Mathematics students were involved in the study. The study is a quasi-experimental research. Results were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).…

College students' success in a course depends on many factors, including their ability and previous knowledge of the subject, the effectiveness of the instruction, and their motivation to work hard enough to succeed. Introductory courses, including many that satisfy general-education requirements, often pose a particular problem for students who…

This article uses one of the authors' classroom experiences to explore how teachers can create technology-rich learning environments that support upper elementary students' mathematical understanding of algebra and number and operations. They describe a unit that presents a common financial problem (the use of credit cards) to engage sixth graders…

The present study contrasts mathematical knowledge that two sixth-grade teachers apparently used when teaching fraction multiplication with the Connected Mathematics Project materials. The analysis concentrated on those tasks from the materials that use drawings to represent fractions as length or area quantities. Examining the two teachers'…

Algebra is, among other things, a shorthand way to express quantitative reasoning. This article illustrates ways for the classroom teacher to convert algebraic solutions to verbal problems into conversational solutions that can be understood by students in the lower grades. Three reasonably typical verbal problems that either appeared as or…

This article provides the rationale for using Fermi questions with eighth graders studying algebra. It describes the students' reaction to such questions as well as their thinking processes and solutions to questions posed to them by their teacher. (Contains 1 figure.)