This article provides a cultural-historical (CHAT) analysis of the practices used by an effective teacher of Latino/a children previously classified as "underachieving" and "beginning/novice" English Language Learners. Although the teacher would not describe her practices in strict CHAT, or sociocultural theory (SCT) terms, our analysis shows that…

Diagnosis is an integral part of instructional decision-making. As the bridge between identification of students who may be at-risk for failure and delivery of carefully designed supplemental interventions, diagnosis provides valuable information about students' persistent misconceptions in the targeted domain. In this paper, we discuss current…

The major purpose of this study is to describe a conceptual framework for examining differential item functioning (DIF) and differential person functioning (DPF) as types of model-data misfit within the context of assessing students with disabilities. Specifically, DIF and DPF can be viewed through the lens of residual analyses. Residual analyses…

The No Child Left Behind act resulted in an increased reliance on large-scale standardized tests to assess the progress of individual students as well as schools. In addition, emphasis was placed on including all students in the testing programs as well as those with disabilities. As a result, the role of testing accommodations has become more…

For one reason or another, various sources of information, namely, ancillary variables and correlational structure of the latent abilities, which are usually available in most testing situations, are ignored in ability estimation. A general model that incorporates these sources of information is proposed in this article. The model has a general…

Differential gender performance in standardized mathematics assessment has long been a heated topic. Gender gaps of varied magnitude have been identified on large-scale assessments in the United States. To continue the investigation, this study examined male and female performance on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of "self-efficacy" for "Enlisting Social Resources, Self-Regulatory Efficacy, self-efficacy" for "Self-Regulated Learning," and "self-efficacy" for "Academic Achievement" (Bandura's Children's "Self-Efficacy Scale," 2006) of urban…

The disparity in academic achievement between African American and White students in all levels of education has been one of the critical issues in education. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of school, community, and family on African American and White students' on the 8 th grade mathematics scores on the Missouri…

This study investigates the predictive validity of students' levels of critical thinking disposition, as measured by the California Measure of Mental Motivation (CM3; Giancarlo, Blohm, & Urdan, 2004) for students' math achievement, as measured by the Mathematics assessment included in the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). The CM3…

Despite a quarter-century of reform, US schools serving students in poverty continue to lag far behind other schools. There are proven programs, but these are not widely used. This large-scale experiment evaluated a district-level reform model created by the Center for DataDriven Reform in Education (CDDRE). The CDDRE model provided consultation…

In specifying a minimum passing score on examinations that students must pass to obtain a high school diploma, states divide a continuous performance measure into dichotomous categories. Thus, students with scores near the cutoff either pass or fail despite having essentially equal skills. The authors evaluate the causal effects of barely passing…

Using data from the 2005 National Assessment of Educational Progress, students' use of calculators in the learning of high school mathematics was profiled based on their family background, curriculum background, and advanced mathematics coursework. A statistical method new to educational research--classification and regression trees--was applied…

Traditional comparisons of test score means identify group differences in broad academic areas, but fail to provide substantive description of how the groups differ on the specific cognitive attributes required for success in the academic area. The rule space method (RSM) allows for group comparisons at the cognitive attribute level, which…

Two experiments examine the psychometric effects of providing immediate feedback on the correctness of answers to open-ended questions, and allowing participants to revise their answers following feedback. Participants answering verbal and math questions are able to correct many of their initial incorrect answers, resulting in higher revised…

This paper presents an empirical analysis of the relationship between social capital and student math and language achievement and the probability of promotion, using data gathered from fourth grade classrooms in public schools in four Latin American cities. The results suggest that social capital among teachers in a school, between teacher and…