The purpose of this dissertation is to identify quality indicators for visual based learning material for technology education classes for grades 6th to 9th. This is a three round Delphi study aimed in answering the following research question. RQ: What are the quality indicators that contribute to the successful selection of visual-based learning…

Montessori is a highly individualized pedagogy that prioritizes following each child's individual interests over standardized test scores. This quasi-experimental study compares groups of Montessori students (treatment groups, N = 535-710) with control groups of non-Montessori students, matched through the simple matching method, which controls…

While numerous studies have reported the effect of school socioeconomic status (SES) on achievement, the factors that can cause this relationship are not well established. This study is, therefore, an attempt to understand school SES and students' mathematics achievement relationship by assuming that this relationship occurs through a correlation…

In Sweden, as in many other countries, programming has been added to the curriculum in recent years. This paper explores how and under what conditions programming is transformed into teaching in technology education. Teachers in grade 7-9 were interviewed about what and how they teach about programming in the context of technology education, and…

Five groups rank state charter school environments according to their laws, regulations, funding, and other characteristics, but none rank states by charter student performances on a national test. We rank states by demographically adjusted math and reading performances of charter students in 4th and 8th grade for the period 2009 to 2019 on the…

This study investigated student and classroom level variables related to student science achievement by using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 dataset. Multilevel modeling was applied in this secondary analysis to examine how science self-concept, school relatedness, and science teaching quality predicted…

It is widely assumed that teachers play a key role in providing high-quality learning opportunities to students and fostering students' learning. Yet it is still unclear how specific teacher knowledge facets as part of their professional competence contribute to classroom processes and learning outcomes. Focusing on mathematics education at the…

We present new estimates of the importance of teachers in early grades for later grade outcomes, but unlike the existing literature that examines teacher "fade-out," we directly compare the contribution of early-grade teachers to later year outcomes against the contributions of later year teachers to the same later year outcomes. Where…

In this study, we examined the extent to which teachers' treatment adherence, instructional quality, and the interaction of these variables influenced eighth-grade students' content knowledge and reading comprehension. We examined treatment fidelity for students (n = 775) in classes randomly assigned to receive an evidence-based content area…

Prior research has found that financial investments in North Carolina's early childhood education programs--Smart Start and NC Pre-K--generated positive effects on student achievement in reading and mathematics through eighth grade (Bai et al., 2020). The current study examined if these effects were moderated by two dimensions of educational…

Shadow education helps students become academically competitive. Currently, little is known about whether shadow education can effectively fulfill either remedial or enrichment purposes in China. Using the nationally representative data from the China Education Panel Survey (CEPS) collected in 2013 and 2014, this paper explored the opportunity gap…

This paper unpacks the factors likely to influence students' use of supplementary private tutoring in Qatar. Drawing on insights from Ajzen's theory of planned behavior (TPB), the current study seeks to understand the main predictors of private tutoring usage in the context of Qatar. This study used survey questionnaire data to ascertain key…

There has been an increasing focus on test scores and rankings in schools. However, the focus on children's standardized test scores has come at the cost of their social relations. As a reaction to this test-centric focus, new approaches claim that nature is important not only for children's social relations but also for their scholastic…

The purpose of this study was to understand the nature of writing instruction across time and grade bands. We used quantitative and qualitative analyses of teacher interviews and video records of classroom instruction of English language arts writing instruction in 97 fourth- through eighth-grade classrooms in 2010 and 2018. Video records showed a…

In improving the quality of education, parents' involvement is very significant. Parents' involvement is one of the three responsibilities for realizing the best quality. This study attempts to explore parents' involvement in education activities for improving their children's academic achievement. A sample of 292 households was selected from…