The Natural Math project was undertaken to encourage parents of Native American and Black preschool and kindergarten children to engage in math activities and games at home. Natural Math also attempted to integrate Seminole culture into math materials. The project originally included only Seminole preschool and kindergarten children. Later, Boley…

These three newsletter issues describe what pilot sites sponsored by the State Vocational Education Consortium are doing to improve the academic competencies for general and vocational students. The first issue summarizes the activities occurring in pilot sites, including establishing higher expectations for general and vocational students,…

This publication is a distillation of the most salient, most often repeated observations and recommendations of Maryland teacher-test scorers on their experiences scoring student responses to the Maryland School Performance Assessment (MSPAP) test in 1994. Feedback is organized into perceptions about what would be pertinent to share with other…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics'"Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics" and "Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics" reflect the belief that all students can learn a significant core of high-quality mathematics. Recognizing the magnitude of the task of reaching all students, this…

The Literacy for Employability (LitE) project was conducted from May 1, 1991 through January 31, 1993. The project was intended to upgrade the mathematics, writing, and problem-solving skills of employees at three Austin, Texas, companies: Hart Graphics, IBM, and Texas Instruments. At Hart and Texas, the program was mandatory; at IBM it was…

The theoretical and practice-based framework is presented for a study that explored the effect of teachers' use of alternative assessment on their mathematics teaching. A model for the impact of alternative assessment on teacher knowledge and classroom teaching processes is proposed, building on work by E. Fennema and M. L. Franke (1992) and P. L.…

The Australian Reading Association felt that language in mathematics was a topic worthy of inclusion in their First International Conference and 19th National Conference. As a result, this book was formed from contributions of mathematics educators in Australia and New Zealand. The book is broken into five major sections: (1) Communicating…

The purpose of this study was to find out whether students perform differently on algebra word problems that have certain key context features and entail proportional reasoning, relative to their level of logical reasoning and their degree of field dependence/independence. Field-independent students tend to restructure and break stimuli into parts…

This paper describes Project SMART (Science and Math Access: Resources & Technology), a multi-year professional development effort that includes components for all adults who regularly have contact with children with disabilities. The common goal of each of the components is the development of both efficacy and capacity to inspire children with…

This document presents the scope and outline for an undergraduate course in mathematics education designed to teach methods of teaching secondary mathematics. After a course description and rationale, the essence of the course is divided into two parts: course objectives and a topical outline. The first part includes objectives in the areas of…

Since nearly 10% of the students in the U.S. who receive doctorates in the mathematical sciences begin their undergraduate studies in two-year institutions, it is clear that these schools are a significant part of the mathematics educational pipeline. Yet, minority students enrolled in two-year colleges are one-fifth as likely to earn a bachelor's…

In an effort to increase faculty use and knowledge of computers, Oakland Community College (OCC), in Michigan, developed a Summer Technology Institute (STI), and a Computer Technology Grants (CTG) project beginning in 1989. The STI involved 3-day forums during summers 1989, 1990, and 1991 to expose faculty to hardware and software applications.…

This study illustrates how a factor analysis of a well-designed student-rating instrument can increase its utility. Factor analysis of a student-rating instrument was used to reveal constructs that would explain student attrition in science, mathematics, and engineering majors. The Instructional Development and Effectiveness Assessment (IDEA)…

The federally funded Model Development Program of Bilingual Education served 385 students at one elementary and one middle school in Manhattan (New York) in 1992-93, its third year of operation. Participants included 168 native Spanish-speaking, limited-English-proficient (LEP) students and 217 English-proficient (EP) students, both…

A special effort was undertaken in 1988 to increase the number of females in the University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program (UMTYMP), a program of accelerated mathematics instruction for elementary school, junior high school, and senior high school students. As part of this effort, attitudinal data were collected from participants.…