Reports on conceptual understanding and solution strategies for percent problems of (n=31) students representing 2 ability levels from grades 5, 7, 9, and 11. Strategies evolved from intuitive to formal and increased in diversity with increasing age. Appendix includes concept and computation interview questions. (Contains 15 references.) (MKR)

The Adolescent Development course, implemented to facilitate the growth of adolescents, is presented in three parts: the first addresses the student's self-concept and provides skills for effective management of relationships; the second focuses on student learning style and improving academic achievement skills; the final part consists of a…

The Teachers Achieving Success with Kids (TASK) mentorship program was designed to improve the attendance, discipline, academic achievement and attitudes of at-risk students attending an urban middle school. In order to develop positive relationships, 25 teacher-student pairs met each day away from the classroom setting and engaged in one hour…

This paper addresses the problem that gender imbalance in curriculum and instruction contributes to sexism, stereotyping, and bias in schools. The study was conducted in a reading classroom in a grade 6-8 middle school of 970 students in a suburban area of the northeast United States. The program focused on inservice workshops and integration of…

A study determined the relationship, if any, between students' learning styles and the types of books they choose to read independently, as well as the amount of time they spend reading independently. Study participants were 72 seventh-grade students attending a middle school in Cobb County, Georgia, who had scored 70 or above in any of the four…

This study examined the personal value systems of 98 at-risk seventh- and eighth-grade students in a public middle school in southwest Baltimore County, Maryland. The study sought to determine differences in the value orientations, or personal beliefs and attitudes, of: (1) males and females; (2) minority and nonminority students; and (3) Asian…

This study examined how learning a problem-solving strategy or schema in one or two distinct content areas with copying or explaining of the strategy affected students' ability to transfer that strategy to a new content area. Eighty-one regular and 56 honors junior high school students (grades 6 and 7) were presented with story problems and their…

This manual describes the Mathematics Assessment Questionnaire (MAQ) and its development, provides relevant background from the research literature, describes approaches to the reporting and uses of the MAQ (including its use in instructional planning), and presents sample responses from students and classes. The MAQ provides teachers and students…

A practicum program was developed and implemented to increase parental involvement, teach parents how to help their children, reverse parents' and students' negative attitudes toward mathematics, and enhance mathematics performance of at-risk seventh-grade students. The objectives of the program were to increase parental involvement by 40 percent,…

The use of a generative and evaluative computerized prompting framework to improve the teaching of writing skills was studied with 164 children in grades 6, 7, and 8 with high or low writing skills, who were randomly assigned to control or treatment groups. The treatment group received computer prompts, think sheet scaffolds, and expert modeling…

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the mathematical structures inherent in grade 7 geometry curriculum objectives can be used to improve the communication of the objectives to students. Teacher inservice based upon geometrical properties and structures was combined with student teaching materials to try to improve student achievement…

Grade retention data were collected from the Campbell River, British Columbia schools to determine the prevalence of retention and its effect on school completion. An extensive survey was administered to 52 parents and 204 educators to assess attitudes towards grade retention. Individual interviews were conducted with eight teachers from various…

This document comprises an evaluation of the 1988 METRO Achievement Program, a summer educational program to help develop the academic potential of primarily Black and Hispanic girls entering the seventh and eighth grades in Chicago. The 5-week program included the following components: (1) mathematics, science, and communication skills classes;…

This practicum addresses the need to organize a structured problem solving program for fifth and seventh grade students. The improvement of the students' problem solving skills and the enhancement of students' attitudes toward problem solving in mathematics were the main goals. The program implemented consisted of a structured problem solving…

The National Science Foundation is sponsoring 26 Statewide Systemic Initiative Projects to promote innovative curricula for teaching mathematics and science. A plan for evaluating and assessing systemic change has been designed and implemented at one of them in Puerto Rico. The perspective used to guide this paper is based on the principles that…