This annual report provides information for the 2010-11 school year on grade-level retention and student performance in the Texas public school system. Student retention and promotion data are reported with data on the performance of students in Grades 3-10 on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) reading and mathematics tests. [For…

Early in 2010, EdSource released a landmark study on middle grades education in California. "Gaining Ground in the Middle Grades" looked at the critical 6th- to 8th-grade years in the context of standards-based education. The analysis identified a comprehensive set of practices that differentiated higher from lower schoolwide academic…

This research focuses on the interaction between students' domain-specific expectancies and values as a predictor of test anxiety. A subsample of adolescents from the MSALT dataset are used in the current study; students complete measures during the spring of sixth grade and again during the spring of seventh grade. Overall, findings provide…

The Apollo 20 project was launched during the 2010-2011 school year to accelerate Houston Independent School District's (HISD's) efforts to improve student performance in every school and close the achievement gap districtwide. This partnership with EdLabs at Harvard University incorporates best practices from successful public and charter schools…

"Effectiveness of Reading and Mathematics Software Products: Findings for Two Student Cohorts" examined the effects of ten reading and mathematics software products on student achievement. The study analyzed data on more than 11,000 students in 400 classrooms and was conducted in 23 primarily urban, low-income school districts. The…

Turner syndrome is a common genetic disorder associated with select deficits in executive functions, working memory and mathematics. In Study 1, we examined growth trajectories of skills in these areas, from grades 1 to 6, among girls with or without Turner syndrome. Rates of growth and performance levels at 6th grade, on an untimed math…

Poor science achievement has been an educational issue for a number of years. Students with disabilities have traditionally fared worse. Research suggests that students with disabilities may respond better to instruction using an inquiry-based approach vs. traditional textbook instruction when measuring science achievement on standardized…

The purpose of this study was to examine teacher Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) self-ratings and student Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) scores. The study assessed the relationship between LoTi ratings and TAKS scores of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students as reported in student records at Alamo Heights Independent School…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a computer-based story on sixth grade students' mathematics word problem solving achievement. Problems were embedded in a story presented on a computer, and then compared to a paper-based story and to a condition that presented the problems as typical, isolated words problems. One hundred…

This paper explores how curriculum and classroom conceptual and procedural emphases affect the learning of algebra for students of color. Using data from a longitudinal study of the Connected Mathematics Program (CMP), we apply cross-sectional HLM to lend explanatory power to the longitudinal analysis afforded by Growth Curve Modeling that we have…

Mathematics is an increasingly important aspect of education because of its central role in technology (Kuenzi, 2008). Mathematical achievement tests are universally applied throughout schooling in the US to assess yearly progress. The middle school years (e.g., Grade 6-Grade 8) are especially crucial to success in mathematics because students…

In this article, we present episodes from two qualitative research studies. The studies focus on students of different ages and populations and their work on different mathematical tasks. We examine the commonalities in environment, tools, and teacher-student interactions that are key influences on the positive dispositions engendered in the…

Learning pathways capture the development of competence in a mathematical domain. They have been developed from empirical studies in the areas of mental computation and emergent numeracy concepts. These pathways afford teachers the opportunity to identify students' current levels of understanding, antecedent understandings and the steps that are…

The purpose of this dissertation was to analyze the social and educational contexts that impact students' perceptions of their mathematical learning and students' use of resistance in regard to these social and educational impacts within the sixth grade environment. Specifically, this study addressed the following overarching questions: (1) What…

Math Snacks animations and support materials were developed for use on the web and mobile technologies to teach ratio, proportion, scale factor, and number line concepts using a multi-modal approach. Included in Math Snacks are: Animations which promote the visualization of a concept image; written lessons which provide cognitive complexity for…