Development of Math Attitudes and Math Self-Concepts: Gender Differences,Implicit–Explicit Dissociations,and Relations to Math Achievement

Three hundred and ninety-one children (195 girls; M_age = 9.56 years) attending Grades 1 and 5 completed implicit and explicit measures of math attitudes and math self-concepts. Math grades were obtained. Multilevel analyses showed that first-grade girls held a strong negative implicit attitude about math, despite no gender differences in math grades or self-reported (explicit) positivity about math. The explicit measures significantly predicted math grades, and implicit attitudes accounted for additional variance in boys. The contrast between the implicit (negativity for girls) and explicit (positivity for girls and boys) effects suggest implicit–explicit dissociations in children, which have also been observed in adults. Early-emerging implicit attitudes may be a foundation for the later development of explicit attitudes and beliefs about math.     

The Role of Parental Math Anxiety and Math Attitude in Their Children’s Math Achievement

The present study investigated the antecedents and consequences of children’s math anxiety and math attitude. A total of 595 students aged 10 to 15 years (5th to 10th grades) and 1 parent of each (mother or father) participated in the study. The study was conducted in India, with the study sample drawn from schools in South-West Punjab. Math anxiety of parents and their children was measured using the Mathematics Anxiety Scale Short Version (MARS-SV), the Mathematics Anxiety Scale for Elementary School Students (MARS-E), and the Mathematics Anxiety Rating Scale for Adolescents (MARS-A). Math attitude was assessed with the Attitude Towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI). A math achievement test was constructed for each grade level based on their curriculum. Path analyses were conducted to test the suggested conceptual model, and the results indicate that parental math anxiety and math attitude act as precursors to their children’s math anxiety and math attitude and further influence the math achievement of their children.     

Time-Indexed Effect Size for Educational Research and Evaluation: Reinterpreting Program Effects and Achievement Gaps in K–12 Reading and Math

Through a synthesis of test publisher norms and national longitudinal data sets, this study provides new national norms of academic growth in K–12 reading and math to help reinterpret conventional effect sizes in time units. We propose d?, a time-indexed–effect-size metric to estimate how long it would take for an “untreated” control group to reach the treatment group outcome in terms familiar to educators—years/months of schooling. It serves as a supplement to conventional effect-size metrics, such as Cohen's d, by taking into account different amounts of time needed for learning at different ages or grade levels. Through applications to Project STAR small class effects and NAEP racial achievement gaps, we demonstrate how to interpret and use d?. It is expected to provide a more developmentally appropriate context for interpreting the size of an effect, a step toward bridging the gap between educational research and practice.     

Urban Students’ Perceptions of Teachers: Views of Students in General, Special, and Honors Education

Students’ satisfaction with school experiences has been linked to their sense of belongingness, connection to school, and achievement. Though the extant research addresses students’ perceptions of school climate and sense of belonging, there is a paucity of research about students’ views of teacher–student interactions. Five hundred and seventy-seven students from one ethnically and academically diverse urban high school were surveyed and interviewed about the nature of teacher talk with students. Findings from this mixed-methods investigation indicate students from general, special, and honors programs experience a wide range of interactions based on academic services received, gender, and ethnicity. More frequent perceived punitive feedback was reported by all students in special education as well as males in general and honors education programs, while Hispanic students indicated a greater frequency of perceived supportive feedback. Findings also reflect a wide range of attitudes and feelings about teachers, the educational system, and learning.     

Teacher Depressive Symptoms and Child Math Achievement in Head Start: The Roles of Family–Teacher Relationships and Approaches to Learning

This study examined the direct and indirect associations of teachers’ depressive symptoms with children’s math achievement through teachers’ reports of family–teacher relationships and children’s approaches to learning (ATL) in Head Start. This study included 3- and 4-year-old 1,547 children (49% female; 27% White, 24% Black, 41% Hispanic/Latino, and 8% others) who attended Head Start from fall 2014 through spring 2015. Results indicated that teachers’ depressive symptoms were directly associated with lower gains in children’s math skills over a year. In addition, teachers who reported higher depressive symptoms were less likely to report positive family–teacher relationships. This, in turn, resulted in lower gains in children’s ATL and was associated with lower achievement in math skills (r² = .69).     

Learner–Instructor Telephone Interaction: Effects on Satisfaction and Achievement of Online Students

The telephone has a long history as a distance learning technology. This study investigated its impact on the satisfaction and achievement of online students. To measure satisfaction, the expectancy disconfirmation paradigm was used. Online students completed an instrument based on this paradigm at the beginning and end of the semester. A randomly selected treatment group received one telephone call from their instructor during the first two weeks of the semester. Achievement was measured by course grade. The study found that the telephone call had no significant effect on the level of satisfaction reported and that grades of the treatment group were slightly lower than those of the control group. Despite these findings, the majority of students (65%) rated their online experience as having exceeded their expectations.     

School Discipline,Race–Gender and STEM Readiness: A Hierarchical Analysis of the Impact of School Discipline on Math Achievement in High School

The Urban Review - While research on school suspensions and its impact on students is not new, scholars have not yet explored whether there is a link between school suspensions and high school...     

What,Where, and How? Special Education in the Climate of Full Inclusion

After the passage of PL 94-142 in 1975 guaranteeing a free, appropriate, public education to all students with disabilities, multiple reauthorizations of IDEA have refined, revised, and renewed the nation's moral and pedagogical commitment to providing well-planned, public, inclusive, and appropriate education to all students with disabilities. But conflicting views of where that education should take place, what that education should consist of, and how that education should be delivered have continued to plague the field of special education. In this article, we provide an historical perspective on the arguments over where, what and how. We open four “windows” on special education service delivery in four different settings in Pennsylvania to illustrate contemporary interpretations and contemporary public policy related to where, what, and how. In the end, we raise questions about whether current, fully inclusive special education practices fulfill the promise of PL-94-142 to provide a special and appropriate education to students with disabilities.     

The Dialectical Problematic of Resolving the Black–White Academic Achievement Gap and Climate Change

In this article, I argue that resolving the Black–White academic achievement gap is incompatible with the emerging issues of global climate change. That is, solutions (equitable funding of schools and resources, school integration movements, and after-school and mentoring programs) for closing the gap in order so that Blacks in America and elsewhere can achieve equality of opportunity, recognition, and distribution with their White and Asian counterparts within the global capitalist world system undermine efforts to combat climate change caused by the aforementioned capitalist form of system and social integration. Climate change, via global warming associated with overaccumulation, resource depletion, pollution, and so forth, is a product of capitalist exploitation of the planet, and efforts to resolve the Black–White academic achievement gap, which is a product of capitalist structural reproduction and differentiation, seeks to integrate Blacks into the global capitalist world system so as to achieve equality of opportunity, recognition, and distribution with Whites. Doing the latter requires continuous economic growth within the finite resource framework of the earth, overaccumulation, and consumerism, which in turn perpetuate capitalism as a form of system and social integration amid its devastating effects (i.e., exploitation, ecological devastation, global warming, pollution, imperial wars, overaccumulation, and resource depletion).     

Who's in STEM? An Exploration of Race,Ethnicity, and Citizenship Reporting in a Federal Education Dataset

As the United States becomes more racially and ethnically diverse and draws more students from across the globe, more representative data are needed to understand at-risk and underrepresented populations in higher education, particularly in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The authors argue that the current reporting standards for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) result in the misrepresentation of racial and ethnic populations in STEM by forcing non-U.S. students into a “master status” category regardless of their racial or ethnic group membership. This study uses data from IPEDS and the American Community Survey to estimate the possible misrepresentation of reported bachelor degree completions by racial and ethnic group and citizenship status in the biological and biomedical sciences and engineering. We found that nearly all of the racial and ethnic groups in IPEDS may be significantly misreported because of the reporting standards for U.S. citizenship. With these findings, various implications are discussed, including higher education decision-making policies; interpretation of academic and social experiences of diverse peoples (race, ethnicity, and nationality); and creation of effective structures for academic success, particularly for students of color, regardless of citizenship.     

Effects of MyTeachingPartner–Math/Science on Teacher–Child Interactions in Prekindergarten Classrooms

Research Findings: This study examined the impact of MyTeachingPartner–Math/Science, a system of math and science curricula and professional development, on the quality of teachers’ interactions with children in their classrooms. Schools were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 intervention conditions (Basic: curricula providing within-activity, embedded teacher supports; Plus: curricula plus implementation support via online resources and in-person workshops) or to a Business-as-Usual (BaU) control condition. Results showed that teachers in the Basic and Plus conditions showed higher levels of Instructional Support and Facilitation of Mathematical and Scientific Thinking. Teachers in the Basic condition also showed higher levels of Emotional Support compared with teachers in the BaU condition. We did not find any significant differences between teachers’ interactions in the Basic and Plus conditions. Practice or Policy: Children are entering kindergarten unprepared in the areas of mathematics and science, largely as a result of inadequate exposure to early experiences and high-quality interactions in these domains. The results of this study suggest that providing teachers with math and science curricula that include embedded teacher supports can have an impact on the quality of their math and science instruction.     

Changes in the Impact of Family Education on Student Educational Achievement in Sweden 1988–2014

The main aim of this study was to investigate the development of the correlation between family education and student achievement in Sweden, which previous research has found to be stable, in spite of increasing school segregation and widening differences in levels of achievement between schools. Based on register data for populations of graduates from compulsory school between 1988 and 2014, correlations between parental education and student grades were estimated. The correlation was found to increase by .04 units between the early-1990s and 2014. The main reasons why this has not been found in previous research are that too coarse a categorization of parental education has been used, a declining quality of measurement of grades, and demographic changes related to immigration.     

The Rise and Decline of Comprehensive Education: Key Factors in the History of Reformed Secondary Education in Belgium, 1969–1989

In answer to economic needs and social demands, a structural innovation was introduced in secondary education in most West European countries, mainly in the 1960s. Contrary to the traditional schools, organized in vertical categories, the so‐called comprehensive schools brought together all branches in one school. There was protest against this type of school from the start but it was mainly in the 1980s and 1990s that comprehensive schools came under siege. In most countries the comprehensive structures have been abandoned or adjusted to a more moderate form.

This paper tries to explain the factors that stimulated innovation in the 1960s, and those that counteracted comprehensive education. As will be shown, these factors were not always related to ideological positions. In fact, the reasons for local educational authorities to “go comprehensive” (or not) were often practically rather than ideologically inspired. Theories of “dominant rationality” by Matthijssen and the “referential” by Jobert succeed in surpassing ideological parameters, and can be interesting tools to explain changing mentalities. However, a satisfying explanation for the history of comprehensive education cannot be offered without paying attention to everyday pragmatics, that – in the author's view – have been decisive for the evolution of comprehensive education.

The paper will be illustrated with examples from the Belgian case. Comprehensive schools were introduced in Belgium in 1969. All state public schools went comprehensive in the 1970s, and the number of comprehensive private schools grew rapidly until growth ceased around 1980. The ongoing struggle between Catholic comprehensive and traditional schools led to a compromise created by the Catholic educational authorities, a fusion of comprehensive and traditional elements. This structure was imposed by the Flemish government as a unitary structure for all secondary schools in the Dutch‐speaking part of Belgium in 1989.     

The Scientific World View,Information Technology,and Science Education: Closing the Gap Between Knowledge-Generation and Knowledge–Consumption

Scholars of science and society have documented a rising public discontent with the scientific enterprise. Low scientific literacy, and an almost instinctive mistrust of scientists and the scientific enterprise, dominate current public discourse about science-intensive matters. Ironically, this disillusionment has come at a time when the ability of scientific discoveries to inform the human condition has perhaps never been greater. New information technologies, including those for accessing data, interacting with data, and communicating with other people through space and time, may offer new pathways for bridging the large gaps that lie between the frontiers of science, students and laypeople. Examples of recent scientific discoveries that exemplify aspects of the scientific world view are reviewed, and traditional classroom pedagogy is examined in light of the habits of mind these discoveries embody. Finally, specific information technologies and model projects are reviewed. This review reveals both promise and challenges: while information technologies may foster new modes of teaching and learning, they also demand new forms of interaction among scientists, teachers, and technology/software developers, for which there are both few systemic incentives and a largely incomplete theoretical foundation.     

Equity and Advocacy Expectations of Culturally Diverse Families’ Participation in Special Education

The authors contend that the equity and advocacy expectations imbedded in the legal mandate for parent participation in the special education decision-making process directly contradict the hierarchy of professional status and knowledge on which the positivist paradigm of professionalism is based, and are also in conflict with the values held by many families from culturally diverse backgrounds, contributing to low levels of participation and advocacy. They argue the need for professional education to incorporate opportunities for professionals to identify the cultural assumptions imbedded in the field of special education towards more balanced and effective collaboration.     

Burnout,Job Satisfaction and Instructional Assignment‐related Sources of Stress in Greek Special Education Teachers

In the literature concerning Greek special education teachers, there is little evidence regarding the perceived levels of burnout, job satisfaction, and job‐related stress factors. The present study focused on the above issues. A sample of 127 Greek special education teachers at the primary school level was tested with the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Employee Satisfaction Inventory, and the Inventory of Job‐related Stress Factors (an instrument created for this study). Results indicated that Greek special education teachers reported average to low levels of burnout. They reported moderately high levels of satisfaction with their job, the principal, and the school organisation as a whole; they also reported average satisfaction with work conditions and low satisfaction with prospects of promotion and pay. Four factors were identified on the job‐related stress factors: teaching in a multi‐category classroom, programme organisation and implementation, assessment of students, and collaborations with other special education experts and parents. The special education teachers perceived none of these issues as particularly overwhelming. Moreover, few significant effects of age, gender, and family status were identified. The above results are consistent with other studies that have focused on Greek regular education teachers, which have indicated that, in general, this group do not experience high levels of occupational stress.     

How are Developmentally Appropriate or Traditional Teaching Practices Related to the Mathematics Achievement of General and Special Education Students?

Recently, developmentally appropriate practices have been distinguished from traditional practices and have been advocated as one way to reform primary general education classrooms. Relatively little research has examined the efficacy of developmentally appropriate versus traditional practices. In particular, concerns have been raised about the effectiveness of this approach for students with disabilities. This study examined the relationship between primary teachers' implementation of developmentally appropriate and traditional teaching methods and the mathematics achievement of general and special education students. Observations, interviews and questionnaires were used to measure the mathematics teaching practices used with general and special education students. Because developmentally appropriate and traditional teaching practices are often characterized in terms of a continuum, principal components methods were used to generate continuous composite variables that described teacher presentation, materials, grouping, and curriculum. The outcome measure was a curriculum- based measure of mathematics achievement. Principal components results showed that the composite variables most clearly associated with the developmentally appropriate v. traditional continuum were not related to mathematics achievement. Instead, consistent with previous research, achievement was associated with a reported measure of instruction that emphasized mathematical processing and strategy instruction. Further, a reported "laissez faire" method that emphasized individual student choice and treated special education students like general education students was negatively related to achievement, as was placement in special education class.