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…

This document presents ideas and activities for teaching algebra. The section on "Week by Week Essentials" provides seven resources in a weekly format. It includes writing ideas that provide an algebra prompt and requires students to organize their thoughts and present them in a coherent fashion, and connections to the real world that…

This paper presents an analysis of the different types of meanings that an individual may assign to a collection of algebraic symbols depending on the mathematical context in which the symbols are presented and the mathematical knowledge possessed by that individual. Four contexts for the Quadratic Theorem are used to illustrate the ways in which…

A three-digit number is chosen, the digits reversed, and the smaller is subtracted from the larger. The difference is a page number in the textbook; the teacher tells the last word on that page. The learning begins when the class uses algebra to prove why the teacher's trick works. (KM)

The author responds to a lecture given by Dieudonne, reported in the September 1973 issue of this journal, by considering the goals for mathematics instruction and by defending the selection of content and approaches for geometry, algebra, and trigonometry. (DT)

This programed text is an introduction to the algebra of complex numbers for engineering students, particularly because of its relevance to important problems of applications in electrical engineering. It is designed for a person who is well experienced with the algebra of real numbers and calculus, but who has no experience with complex number…