Based on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study 2007 study and a follow-up national survey, data for 3,901 Taiwanese grade 8 students were analyzed using structural equation modeling to confirm a social-relation-based affection-driven model (SRAM). SRAM hypothesized relationships among students' perceived social relationships in…

This paper is a report of the impact of an externally funded, multiyear systemic reform project on students' science achievement on a modified version of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) test in 33 small, rural school districts in two Midwest states. The systemic reform effort utilized a cascading leadership strategy…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the perceptions of Texas public Montessori school principals as instructional leaders in science. Twelve public Montessori school principals were interviewed for this study. Two research questions were used: How do public Montessori principals perceive Texas science standards in public…

Texas Administrative Code (BB § 89.1205) specifies that all elementary schools must offer a bilingual program to English Language Learners (ELLs) whose home language is spoken by 20 or more students in any single grade level across the entire district. Based on this rule, in addition to Spanish speaking ELLs, students speaking Vietnamese,…

The Parent Prep Academy (also referred to as the Academy) is a system of parent trainings and workshops in the Houston Independent School District (HISD). The courses are designed to strengthen families by developing parents as life-long learners. Within the Academy, courses are offered to provide information and resources empowering parents to…

The presence of outlying anchor items is an issue faced by many testing agencies. The decision to retain or remove an item is a difficult one, especially when the content representation of the anchor set becomes questionable by item removal decisions. Additionally, the reason for the aberrancy is not always clear, and if the performance of the…

Some authors assume that the academic difficulties encountered by Aboriginal students can be partly explained by the discrepancy between teaching methods and Aboriginal learning styles. However, this hypothesis lacks empirical foundations. Using pan-Canadian data, we tried to identify the most efficient teaching methods for Aboriginal students and…

Authentic assessment exercises are similar to real-world tasks that would be expected by a professional. An authentic assessment in combination with an inquiry-based learning activity enhances students' learning and rehearses them for their future roles, whether as scientists or as informed citizens. Over a period of 2 years, we experimented with…

Researchers have recently focused attention on the impact of district level leadership on student achievement. Superintendents are at the heart of that discussion as they are district leaders and thus held accountable for the performance of the school district. Superintendent longevity has been an issue for many years and even though researchers…

One hundred and fifty-nine Grade 11 prospective disadvantaged students in the natural sciences at the University of Pretoria completed the Study Orientation Questionnaire in Mathematics and the Senior Aptitude Test (Advanced). Fifty-nine male students (M age = 16.05; SD = 0.57) and 100 females (M age = 16.02; SD = 0.512) scored significantly…

This study examined the effects of motivation to learn science, science self-beliefs, and science instructional practices on science achievement of 13,985 15-year-old students from 431 schools across Canada. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses, while controlling for student- and school-level demographic characteristics, revealed the…

Successful completion of organic chemistry is a prerequisite for many graduate and professional programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, yet the failure rate for this sequence of courses is notoriously high. To date, few studies have examined why some students succeed while others have difficulty in organic chemistry. This…

This study examined the effect of different anatomic representations on student learning in a human anatomy class studying the muscular system. Specifically, we examined the efficacy of using dissected cats (with and without handouts) compared with clay sculpting of human structures. Ten undergraduate laboratory sections were assigned to three…

Making time for science is a genuine complaint among classroom teachers. As a former fifth-grade teacher and district curriculum coordinator, the author's moment of truth came one morning while juggling classroom housekeeping tasks. Her students were set to work on their "bell work," which consisted of some type of assignment that required little…

This paper uses data from the National Pupil Database to investigate the differences in "performance" across the range of science courses available following the 2006 Key Stage 4 (KS4) science reforms in England. This is a value-added exploration (from Key Stage 3 [KS3] to KS4) aimed not at the student or the school level, but rather at…