This paper describes secondary data analyses that investigate the impact of gender, parents' education level, and socio-economic status upon Turkish students' mathematics achievement in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009. The analyses were done quantitatively using t-tests, one-way ANOVA, correlation and linear…

Clinical nurse preceptors are often assigned a nursing student based on their availability and not necessarily on their expertise. The preceptor, as role model and clinical teacher, is instrumental in guiding a nursing student in his or her transition into the role of a new graduate nurse. When a preceptor lacks the knowledge to meet the…

PISA for Development (PISA-D) is a six-year project set to conclude in 2019. From 2021, the initiative will be integrated into the main PISA test, making the assessment more accessible and relevant to a wider range of countries, especially middle- and low-income countries. The PISA 2021 cognitive instruments will use adaptive testing that allows…

Solving non-routine problems is a key competence in a world full of changes, uncertainty and surprise where we strive to achieve so many ambitious goals. But the world is also full of solutions because of the extraordinary competences of humans who search for and find them. We must explore the world around us in a thoughtful way, acquire knowledge…

Standardized tests have a long history of being the go-to measure of student reading achievement, teacher accomplishment, and school accountability. Given this habit of history, it is predictable that a single standardized reading test score is often considered the indicator of student reading growth and achievement. Yet standardized reading tests…

In the United States students have traditionally struggled with mathematics. Many students leave the educational system with limited mathematical literacy that can adversely affect their success as a college student, a consumer and citizen. In turn, lack of mathematical literacy affects their socioeconomic status. Through improving their…

How well are Wake County Public Schools (WCPSS) students prepared for problem-solving, scientific reasoning, and critical thinking? (1) WCPSS schools out-performed both the U.S., national, and international averages in each core subject of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA): mathematics, reading, and science; and (2) overall,…

The purpose of the current action based quantitative research study was to investigate a relationship between student's achievement on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR) in reading and mathematics and parent participation as school sponsored family reading and math curriculum night workshops. While attending these…

As we consider art education for future generations, we envision a change in focus from the "product," or artwork, to the artistic "process"--the thinking behind the artwork. How can we be so sure this shift of priorities is afoot? Indicators in general education point to thinking dispositions as the goal of learning (Costa…

The present investigation examined the benefits of pre-K through the end of kindergarten for children from low-income homes who lived in a large and diverse county (n = 2,581) as well as factors associated with a reduction in benefits during the kindergarten year. Results revealed that pre-K graduates outperformed nonattenders in the areas of…

The fact that Turkey's achievement in large-scale international examinations is not at the expected level is associated with such factors as students, teachers, schools, curricula and assessment approaches. The literature links student-related causes mainly to their lack of higher-order thinking skills; and teacher-related causes to incompetency…

This study examines the influence of the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 1999 results on mathematics education policy in Israel. Analyzing various documents, the study shows how these results transformed policymakers' discourse regarding mathematics education. In order to achieve improvement in Israel's ranking, the…

East Asian students consistently top comparative assessments of academic achievement. Yet, rather than attempting to develop more sophisticated understandings of this difference, the most common reaction is to attribute East Asian performance to longer study hours and/or the attendance at schools focused on academic skill enhancement and test…

Educators and researchers have long debated the best grade configuration grouping for middle grade students. This study examined school-level differences in reading and mathematics standardized test pass rates for students placed in middle schools versus alternative grade configurations. Latent growth modeling was conducted separately for 6th,…

There is a significant need for kindergarten entry assessments (KEA) that meet state education agency (SEA) requirements and are psychometrically sound measures of a broad range of school readiness domains such as language, literacy, math, science, executive function, and social-emotional skills. Research Findings: In this paper, we describe five…