We report on a study of the relationship between calculator technology and student learning in two introductory statistics class sections taught by the same instructor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. At the introduction of hypothesis testing and confidence intervals, one class section (A) was given graphing calculators capable of…

Little is known about the way that teachers articulate notions of variation in their own words. The study reported here was conducted with 17 prospective secondary math and science teachers enrolled in a preservice teacher education course which engaged them in statistical inquiry of testing data. This qualitative study examines how these…

This study investigated introductory statistics students' conceptual understanding of the standard deviation. A computer environment was designed to promote students' ability to coordinate characteristics of variation of values about the mean with the size of the standard deviation as a measure of that variation. Twelve students participated in an…

As accountability requirements for determining adequate yearly progress increase, states are working to make standards-based assessments accessible for all students. Providing accommodations on assessments is one of the main ways to allow not only students with disabilities but also students who are English Language Learners to be included in…

Because a significant portion of U.S. students lacks critical mathematic skills, schools across the country are investing heavily in computerized curriculums as a way to enhance education output, even though there is surprisingly little evidence that they actually improve student achievement. In this paper we present results from a randomized…

At the request of the Hawaii Department of Education, Achieve conducted a study of Hawaii's 2005 grade 10 State Assessment in reading and mathematics. The study compared the content, rigor and passing (meets proficiency) scores on Hawaii's assessment with those of the six states that participated in Achieve's earlier study, "Do Graduation…

This article details a 5-year evolution of a middle school mathematics faculty serving predominantly economically at-risk students. Faculty members worked to improve students' mathematics test scores, used a scripted curriculum, and integrated National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards-based activities. Schools nationwide are…

"Education Matters" is the monthly newsletter of the Association of American Educators (AAE), an organization dedicated to advancing the American teaching profession through personal growth, professional development, teacher advocacy and protection. This issue of the newsletter includes: (1) Leading Students to New Heights: Dr. Bill…

To examine how neighborhood characteristics influence academic achievement, data were drawn from a community survey of low-income neighborhoods and linked with data on performance on standardized testing for third-grade students attending elementary schools in those communities. Results of multilevel logistic regressions indicated that probability…

This study evaluated agreement between expert system and human scores on 12 algebra word problems taken by Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test examinees from a general sample of 285 and a study sample of 30. Problems were drawn from three content classes (rate x time, work, and interest) and presented in four constructed-response…

This study developed, applied, and evaluated a theory-based method of detecting the underlying causes of differential difficulty. The method was applied to two subgroups taking the Scholastic Aptitude Test-Mathematics (SAT-M), 261 visually impaired students taking Braille forms of the test and 1,985 black students at 3 test administrations. It…

This study investigated the convergent validity of expert-system scores for four mathematical constructed-response item formats. A five-factor model was proposed comprised of four constructed-response format factors and a Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test quantitative factor. Subjects were drawn from examinees taking a single form of…

This report describes an experiment in constructed response testing undertaken in conjunction with the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). Constructed response questions are those that require students to produce their own response rather than selecting the correct answer from several options. Participants in this experiment…

This practice test for the Ohio Ninth-grade Proficiency Tests consists of items similar to those that appear on the proficiency test. The writing section contains a prompt that asks the student to write about a hero or heroine. The reading test contains questions based on four reading selections and other reading skill questions not based on a…

Patterns of nonresponse, representing items not reached by test takers or omitted because of difficulty, were addressed for all three age groups (grade 4, grade 8, and grade 12) taking the 1990 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The analysis considered nonresponse rates for each item in the seven blocks of items on which reported…