This paper presents the findings of a pilot study that explored students' experiences of test anxiety when taking A-level examinations. Four focus groups were convened with a sample of 19 participants in the south of England to explore the triggers of test anxiety and the perceived need for interventions to assist high test-anxious students cope…

In mathematics education, a vast amount of research has shown that students of different ages have a strong tendency to apply linear or proportional models anywhere, even in situations where they are not applicable. For example, in geometry it is known that many students believe that if the sides of a figure are doubled, the area is doubled too.…

In many contemporary collaborative inquiry learning environments, chat is being used as a means for communication. Still, it remains an open issue whether chat communication is an appropriate means to support the deep reasoning process students need to perform in such environments. Purpose of the present study was to compare the impact of chat…

The Carl Perkins Act provides federal support for rigorous career and technical education (CTE) programs that provide students with knowledge and skills to keep the United States competitive. States are provided with funds which are in turn distributed to eligible recipients such as local educational agencies (LEAs) and postsecondary institutions.…

In this paper we focus on California high school students' transition to community colleges. Our unique dataset tracks five cohorts of California high school juniors into their freshmen year at in-state community colleges. We evaluate the extent to which high school achievement tests (currently not utilized by community colleges in course…

Using Program for International Student Achievement (PISA) 2009 data we study the transfer of knowledge among reading, mathematics, and science among Turkish students. Both Science and Reading are significant predictors of Mathematics scores, although clearly Science is a much stronger predictor; the transfer from Science to Mathematics is much…

Despite the widespread popularity of growth curve analysis, few studies have investigated robust growth curve models. In this article, the "t" distribution is applied to model heavy-tailed data and contaminated normal data with outliers for growth curve analysis. The derived robust growth curve models are estimated through Bayesian…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 has put many schools under a lot of pressure to meet its high demands. In this quantitative study, the effects that the NCLB act has had on students' opportunity to learn (OTL) and Subject Level Success (SS) from 2004 to 2012 in 9th, 10th, and 11th grade math coursework (Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and…

I analyze a program implemented in Texas schools serving underprivileged populations that pays both students and teachers for passing grades on Advanced Placement (AP) examinations. Using a difference-in-differences strategy, I find that program adoption is associated with increased AP course and exam taking, increases in the number of students…

Research on bullying is an important avenue for understanding the social integration of students in special education. Focused on 3,305 students who self-reported victimization of two to three times per month or more, this study compared the pattern of verbal, relational, and physical bullying among students in general education and special…

School physical education (PE) experiences play a critical role in adolescents' physical activity (PA) levels. Teachers are crucial to students' initial experiences in PA; however, limited research has explored teachers' perspectives about PA during PE using in-depth qualitative research techniques. We conducted interviews with 25 current…

The author experienced the introduction of the Internet as a high school student. Reflecting on that experience, he now realizes that he did not understand the possibilities offered by chat rooms, instant messaging, and other Internet-based communication tools to increase sociopolitical connectedness. As the teacher of an eleventh grade social…

The importance of using real-life contexts in teaching mathematics is emphasised in many policy and curriculum statements. The literature indicates using contexts to teach mathematics can be difficult and few detailed exemplars exist. This article describes the use of real-life contexts in one New Zealand Year 11 algebra lesson. Data included a…

One path to improving adolescents' literacy skills is to integrate reading and writing into the content areas in which such work occurs. Although argumentative writing has been found to help students understand historical content and transform information, scholars do not know the influence of specific task structures on students' writing or…

Space to Grow is an Australian Research Council Grant that engages high school students in real science and supports their teachers in implementing inquiry-based approaches using astronomy as the focus. Currently, Grade 9-12 students and their science teachers from three educational jurisdictions in one Australian state are acquiring, and making…