There is strong evidence from research conducted in the United States that fraction magnitude understanding supports mathematics achievement. Unfortunately, there has been little research that examines if this relation is present across educational contexts with different approaches to teaching fractions. The current study compared fourth and…

This study examines how sampled Chinese and U.S. third and fourth grade students (N[subscript China] = 167, N[subscript US] = 97) understand the commutative, associative, and distributive properties. These students took both pre- and post-tests conducted at the beginning and end of a school year. Comparisons between students' pre- and post-tests…

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Research for Education series represents a further effort by IEA to capitalize on it's unique datasets, so as to provide powerful information for policymakers and researchers. Each report focuses on a specific topic and is produced by a dedicated team of leading…

Problem Statement: Student achievement is considered an indicator of the quality of education, and achievement tests are applied to assess student achievement. International tests are adapted into different languages and cultures with the aim of assessing student achievement on an international level and comparing the achievements of different…

In this paper, we present a framework used to analyze the extent to which assessments (i.e., chapter tests) accompanying three published elementary grades 3-5 curricula in the United States provide students with opportunities to engage with key mathematical processes. The framework uses indicators for five criteria to assess the processes of…

The 2016 edition of the Brown Center Report (BCR) is number five in the third volume and the 15th issue overall. As is customary, this year's BCR contains three studies. Part one is on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and instruction in math and reading. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data indicate that nonfiction is…

Recent reform efforts in mathematics education have stimulated a focus on learning trajectories. At the same time, a global increase in high-stakes testing has influenced instructional practices. This study investigated how four fourth grade teachers within a school planned and enacted lessons to understand what mediated their planning and…

Using data from the international Teacher Education and Development Study: Learning to Teach Mathematics (TEDS-M), the measurement equivalence of teachers' beliefs across countries is investigated for the case of "mathematics-as-a fixed-ability". Measurement equivalence is a crucial topic in all international large-scale assessments and…

Despite being the inventing country of the Internet, the US is not satisfied with its current state in Internet speed and broadband adoption. Although, more students, teachers and researchers in the US use Internet than any other country in the world, it is not satisfactory for the US educators and legislators to maintain US competitiveness in the…

To ensure reliable, accurate, and timely data, which are necessary to monitor the progress of education in the United States, Congress has mandated that the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produce an annual report, "The Condition of Education." This year's report summarizes important developments and trends in education…

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study raised the concern that the United States (US) mathematics teachers place less emphasis on topics and teach a variety of content strands (Goldsmith, Mark & Kantrov, 2000; Kerachsky, 2008). The overall pattern in the US mathematics classrooms today is that primary and upper elementary…

This study is a secondary analysis of data from the 1995 administration of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The purpose is to compare the breadth, depth, and recurrence of the typical physics curriculum in the United States with the typical curricula in different countries and to determine whether there are…

Using cognitive ethnography as a guiding framework, we investigated US and Japanese fourth-grade teachers' domain knowledge of key fraction representations in individual interviews. The framework focused on revealing cultural trends in participants' organization of knowledge and their interpretations of that organization. Our analyses of the…

The treatment of errors in mathematics classrooms has gained attention in recent years, with many researchers suggesting that errors should be used as starting points for student inquiry into mathematics. In the study reported in this article, we examined how teachers used discourse around errors to generate inquiry by looking at the treatment of…

The "TIMSS 2011 International Results in Mathematics" summarizes fourth and eighth grade student achievement in each of the 63 countries and 14 benchmarking entities which participated in TIMSS 2011. The report includes trends in mathematics achievement over time for participants in the previous TIMSS 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007…