Principals (policy makers) have debated the progress in U.S. student performance for a half century or more. Informing these conversations, survey agents have administered seven million psychometrically linked tests in math and reading in 160 waves to national probability samples of selected cohorts born between 1954 and 2007. This study is the…

Relational reasoning, the ability to discern meaningful patterns within a stream of information, is considered a critical capacity for students. However, little is known about how this ability is demonstrated by children of different ages in the context of discourse with a more knowledgeable other. Thus, this study sought to investigate the ways…

The use of frequency-based criteria to detect harmful substance use in adolescents is rare despite its potential to identify young people at risk. We compared high school students who use high amounts of substances to students with lower levels (or nil) of use across health and well-being indicators to explore the feasibility of this kind of…

Children's understandings of the shape and relative sizes of the Earth, Sun and Moon have been extensively researched and in a variety of ways. Much is known about the confusions which arise as young people try to grasp ideas about the world and our neighbouring celestial bodies. Despite this, there remain uncertainties about the conceptual models…

The voices of parents are not often heard in the literature and, when they are, it tends to be a litany of battles with the schooling system to achieve or not achieve some sort of acceleration for their gifted children (Gross, 2004). This retrospective study is unusual, as it is not based on a history of conflict. It is a positive account of…

Background and purpose: The present study reports on the findings of a study conducted in New Zealand using the actual and preferred forms of a classroom environment instrument, the Technology-Rich Outcomes-focussed Learning Environment Inventory (TROFLEI) and three affective outcome scales. Main aims of this study were to validate the instrument…