Standardized tests have become commonly used tools for accountability in public education in the United States. In Florida, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) is used to measure student achievement on grade-specific standards and benchmarks. Various agencies have developed computer-based and web-based software applications to improve…

This paper reports on a qualitative research project undertaken with Y6 children. It draws on transcriptions of children's discussions; recordings of collaborative writing sessions; and the children's responses to a series of questions relating to Beanie soft toys, their origins, their intended market audience and their creator's entrepreneurial…

Student self-beliefs are significantly related to several types of academic achievement. In addition, results from international assessments have indicated that students in Japan have typically scored above international averages (D. L. Kelly, I. V. S. Mullis, & M. O. Martin, 2000). In this study, the author examined relationships between…

Background: This study evaluated the impact on student's writing ability of a structured writing program, called "Writing Wings," for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders developed by the Success For All Foundation (SFAF). Writing is a critical skill for success in school. Purpose: The study was intended to answer one confirmatory question,…

This study offers an alternative to traditional notions of scaffolding for reading comprehension by tracing the evolution of a fifth-grade small group literature conversation in which the teacher sought to displace himself as "primary knower" (Berry, 1981) in the conversation. The study examines how the teacher shared evaluation with his…

This document is 7th in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education monograph series. The mathematical performance of (n=250) U.S. 6th-grade students from both private and public schools and (n=425) Chinese 6th-graders from both key and common schools was examined on multiple-choice tasks assessing computation and simple problem solving, and…

This report presents and analyzes data on standing height and on weight of children aged 6 through 11 years in the United States, India, and the United Arab Republic. Data for all three countries come from representative national samples and present the first opportunity to compare data from several countries that are broadly representative of the…

Examines nature and scope of group violence among children in schools on both sides of Atlantic Ocean. Reviews studies of student attitudes about victimization and offers suggestions for prevention and treatment of bullying. Focus is on studies on bullying undertaken in Europe, mostly Scandinavia, and in United States (Author/NB)

Behavior problems reported by teachers for 359 Jamaican and 665 U.S. children ages 6 to 11 were compared. In conjunction with previous research, results suggest that Jamaican children find school exceptionally stressful, although overall findings demonstrate the considerable similarity of teacher-reported problems across cultures. (SLD)

Correlations and mean score differences between IQs derived from the Universal Nonverbal Intelligence Test (UNIT; Bracken & McCallum, 1998) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Third Edition (WISC-III; Wechsler, 1991) were compared. Participants were Limited English Proficient (LEP) Mexican-American elementary school students, who…

Components of the School Renaissance[R] program, including Accelerated Reader and Reading Renaissance, have been implemented in more than 65,000 schools in the United States. Despite the program's popularity, there have been no published, well-controlled evaluations of its effectiveness. This randomized field experiment was designed to gauge…

Although rates of childhood obesity among the general population are alarmingly high, they are higher still in ethnic minority and low-income communities. The disparities pose a major challenge for policymakers and practitioners planning strategies for obesity prevention. In this article Shiriki Kumanyika and Sonya Grier summarize differences in…

Educators now understand that new methods of representing and reproducing knowledge are emerging. Using only a single mode of communication to teach may limit a student's ability to engage in the topic and remember what is being taught. Sign language is a visual language and it is also kinesthetic--two traits that make it especially useful in…

To identify diverse student strengths and to learn how teachers can build instruction on those strengths, the author and his colleagues have conducted multiple studies among students in Alaska, the mainland United States, Kenya, and other countries. In a series of studies in Alaska and Kenya, the researchers measured the adaptive cultural…

Concludes that there are fewer differences in children's reading preferences between sex, age, and nationality than educators have been led to believe. (FL)