This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between…

This year the Center on Education Policy (CEP) analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps…

In this article, the authors seek to re-conceptualize the perspective regarding students' difficulties with algebra. While acknowledging that students "do" have difficulties when learning algebra, they also argue that the generally espoused criteria for algebra as the ability to work with the syntactical rules for solving equations is…

This dissertation examined the efficacy of using minimally trained college undergraduates to tutor third- through fifth-grade students with reading difficulties. Tutors receiving four hours of training in scripted reading program based on the principles of Direct Instruction and emphasizing explicit instruction in phonological awareness and…

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (a) to explore the nature of elementary school children's metacognitive knowledge of strategies appropriate for before, during, and after reading; and (b) to determine whether children who had participated in Reading Recovery instruction in the first grade had similar understandings as their current third-…

The purpose of this study was twofold. One purpose was to identify the locally negotiated literate practices that defined ways of communicating information and knowledge across the curriculum in a fourth/fifth grade classroom. Through an ethnographic and sociolinguistic set of analyses, this investigation illustrated how the teacher worked to…

Tree rings can be used not only to look at plant growth, but also to make connections between plant growth and resource availability. In this lesson, students in 2nd-4th grades use role-play to become familiar with basic requirements of trees and how availability of those resources is related to tree ring sizes and tree growth. These concepts can…

In this article we examine student performance on mandated tests in grades 3, 4, and 5 in one state. We focus on this interval, which w e term "the fourth grade window," based on our hypothesis that students in grade four are particularly vulnerable to decrements in achievement. The national focus on the third grade as the critical…

Colleges are increasingly interested in ways to better engage students in their academic careers. This article reports 20 college students' experiences as mentors for at-risk fourth-graders through a mentoring program called The Learning Connection (TLC), run by the Community Services Office at Moravian College. The study describes students'…

Elementary-school children in Cuba and Canada participated in measures of loneliness, sociometric status, friendship, aggression, and social withdrawal. Withdrawal was associated with loneliness in the Cuban data from both cohorts, Grade 4 and Grade 6. In the Canadian data, withdrawal was only linked to loneliness in Grade 6. In contrast with…

This report describes how the education system in the United States compares with education systems in the other Group of Eight (G-8) countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom. The report draws on the most current information about education from three primary sources: the Indicators of…

This report describes how the education system in the United States compares with education systems in the other Group of Eight (G-8) countries. The G-8 countries--Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, and the United States--are among the world's most economically developed countries. Comparative…

This is an abstract for an action research project report on improving student motivation. Students struggle with motivation to perform well in school. This study was designed to increase student motivation in the classroom setting. The targeted population consisted of one third grade classroom, one fourth grade classroom, and three periods of…

Under Title III of the No Child Left Behind Act ([NCLB], 2001b) every state needs to show linkage between state content standards and state English language development (ELD) standards as input to the development of state English proficiency tests. This paper argues that Title III presents a unique opportunity to explore how different content…

This applied dissertation was designed to increase the academic achievement of 4th-grade students in science. The problem to be solved was that 4th-grade students in a rural elementary school exhibited low academic achievement in science. The researcher utilized the multiple intelligences (MI) theory and brain-based learning to develop the IMPACT…