This paper addresses the first year of a three-year, longitudinal study which introduces mathematical modeling to young children and provides professional development for their teachers. Four classes of third-graders (8 years of age) and their teachers participated in the first year of the program, which involved several preliminary modeling…

Elementary school teachers in experimental classrooms participated in inservice training programs which consisted of interpretation of information on Rasch profiles, individualization, and classroom climate. The teachers in the control classrooms received inservice training in the traditional topics only. Pupils in the experimental and control…

This paper describes the development of a criterion-referenced, performance-based measure of third grade reading comprehension. The primary purpose of the assessment is to contribute unique and valid information for use in the formative evaluation of a whole literacy program. A secondary purpose is to supplement other program efforts to…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics encourages the use of calculators in the classroom as a teaching and learning tool, as well as a computational tool. This paper evaluates the impact on teachers' approaches to teaching mathematics and students' attitudes toward mathematics as the result of participation in an in-service program…