Purpose: The research literature in this field demonstrates that instructional leadership provided by principals is essential for student learning, but the question of its impact on students with high and low socioeconomic status (SES) has remained largely unexplored. In the present study, the authors focus on the moderating role of instructional…

Values affirmation exercises have been implemented in many contexts to combat stereotype threat in students from marginalized populations; the exercises are intended to fortify students by prompting them to self-affirm their values in short writing activities. Within the physics education research community, the style of intervention was…

In this paper, we analyze recently collected data that conducts a unique assessment of high school student performance for over two thousand students from five Chinese provinces. Across three domains of scientific intelligence tested, we document heterogeneous gender gaps in academic performance. These differences generally arise due to…

A growing number of studies have shown the benefits of K-12 integrated science and engineering education. With this study, we add to the literature by documenting the relationship between STEM learning and engagement, and the demographic characteristics that impact achievement in STEM. This longitudinal study followed a diverse group of 245 middle…

Underrepresentation of some populations in STEM fields occurs because these students experience achievement gaps with performance lower on average than their overrepresented peers. Interventions to reduce achievement gaps and increase the retention of underrepresented students in STEM courses include approaches found both inside and outside of…

The study sought to determine the effects of a pilot home-based science intervention on deaf and typically hearing children's conceptual understanding of science and their abilities to reason about and communicate their understanding (scientific enquiry skills). Data show that by age 5 years a science attainment gap exists between deaf children…

We investigated effects of tracking students into higher, more academic, and lower, less academic, school types immediately after primary school (early tracking) instead of having a comprehensive secondary school system (late tracking) on school gender segregation and gender gaps in achievement outcomes. We assumed that, in early tracking…

The individual problem-solving (IPS) and collaborative problem-solving (CPS) have received a lot of attention, yet little research has been conducted to investigate whether CPS and IPS are equally effective in improving students' understanding of physics concepts, problem-solving abilities, and minimizing achievement gaps. Therefore, the present…

A lack of preparedness for college-level coursework has been shown to negatively impact student success rates in STEM. Remedial instruction has been the most widespread approach to helping at-risk students attain college-level competencies; however, studies have shown that remediation has had null or negative impacts on degree completion for…

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of school background and school process in closing achievement gaps between White and non-White students in science. To answer the research questions, a series of two-level hierarchical linear models (HLM) was performed on the fourth-grade U.S. portion of the 2015 Trends in International…

Large scale educational assessments conducted in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) show a substantial gap between the performance of different types of schools. This study used the 2015 Program of International Student Assessment (PISA) to investigate how student- and school-related variables accounted for the variation among schools. The results…

This Statistics in Brief (SiB) uses data from the 2011 and 2019 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and explores how achievement gaps between high- and low-performing 4th- and 8th-grade students in the U.S. and other education systems have changed over time. Achievement gaps are defined as the differences in scores…

The increase in online learning brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic will likely result in a greater availability of online and hybrid course offerings. In this study, students enrolled in parallel sections of a microbiology lab course with in-person labs and either face-to-face (F2F) or all-online lectures (hybrid, H). Course material and method…

A flipped classroom is a setting in which what is traditionally, done in class is performed at home and vice versa. The students attend classes after they have watched their videos at home. They spend the class hours discussing concepts they find difficult to understand with their teachers and other students. They are indulged in more activities…

The use of modeling-based instruction is very effective when learning science content in multiple disciplines for native speakers. However, the benefits of using this pedagogy with students learning English as a second language or English Learners (ELs) have not been widespread, especially at the upper secondary level. This article discusses the…