This phenomenological study investigates conceptions of statistical variation that secondary mathematics teachers who are recognized leaders in AP Statistics exhibit. This study also investigates perceptions and recollections of activities and actions that teachers who exhibited robust understandings of variation suggest contributed to their…

This paper presents the annual report of the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSI) for 2010. Four years ago, NMSI was just an idea. NMSI not only hit the ground running in 2007, it picked up the best ideas in the country and rolled them out in schools and universities from coast to coast. Within a year of its creation, NMSI had awarded…

This article describes a study that examined evidence of the enduring effects of United World Colleges (UWC) education, arguably the only purely ideology-driven international education model. The study adopted an interpretive phenomenological analysis of an autoethnography by a UWC graduate. The study found that the graduate has incubated her own…

This article examines the effectiveness of training facilitators in secondary schools to follow APA learner-centered principles to support learners in distance education. The study was a cluster-randomized control trial with 36 match pairs of schools and 246 students in the rural USA. The schools were selected at random and assigned at random to…

There is a national movement to universalize the high school curriculum so that all students graduate prepared for college. The present work evaluates a policy in Chicago that ended remedial classes and mandated college preparatory course work for all students. Based on an interrupted time-series cohort design with multiple comparisons, this study…

Many states provide incentives to students, teachers, and schools for the participation and success of students on Advanced Placement (AP) examinations administered by the College Board. The purpose of this article is to examine whether these incentives help students enroll and succeed in AP exams. An analysis of nationally representative AP exam…

Online high schools are growing significantly in number, popularity, and function. However, little empirical data has been published about the effectiveness of these institutions. This research examined the frequency of group work and extended essay writing among online Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) students, and how these tasks may have…

The transition to adulthood in the United States has changed in recent decades as many of the traditional milestones that mark adulthood, such as household establishment and marriage, have changed or been delayed (McLanahan et al. 2010; Arnett 2000). Among these changes are increased participation and attainment in education; extenuation of…

This case study examined the relationships between the programmatic features of service learning and student willingness to participate in and development during a service learning opportunity in the secondary, Social Studies classroom. The sample included two sections of Advanced Placement Psychology which consisted of 58 junior and senior…

Both of the national efforts to reform education (AAAS, 1993; NRC, 1996) promoted professional development experiences that engage teachers in authentic scientific research. This qualitative multiple case study used legitimate peripheral participation (LPP) as a way to examine the process by which teachers became a part of the laboratory community…

In today's Web 2.0 world, teachers are perpetually struggling with how to incorporate technology into the classroom effectively in order to meet the diverse literacy needs of 21st-century learners. Utilizing the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE, 2008) Position Statement addressing these needs, the theoretical framework of Lankshear…

Cash incentives for high school students to perform better in school are growing in popularity, but not everyone understands them. Does paying students for better Advanced Placement (AP) test scores encourage enrollment in AP classes? The author set out to determine the impact of a cash incentive program operating in a number of Texas high…

The purpose of this study was to investigate and characterize current practice in secondary history education and its relationship to best practices. In this phenomenological study, the author examines the pedagogy of three high school history teachers and the extent to which their current methods exhibited recent thinking on best practices in…

Academic sociologists have recently increased their focus on improving high school sociology. Reform efforts include networking between teachers and universities, improving curriculum, and enhancing teacher training. I propose that this list be expanded to include setting curricular standards. Current trends in educational reform center on…

As part of its College Readiness System, ACT offers the PLAN[R] program as a way for tenth-grade students to review their progress toward college readiness while there is still time to make necessary interventions. PLAN contains four tests--English, Mathematics, Reading, and Science. These tests are designed to measure students' curriculum-related…