This paper provides an analysis of how Swedish 15-year-olds perform on the high-stakes national assessments in geography. It explicitly addresses which item characteristics produce differential item functioning (DIF) in favor of boys and girls respectively. The findings show that DIF occurs in favor of girls in items with constructed response and…

Academic self-concept and achievement have been found to be reciprocally related across time. However, existing research has focused on self-concept and achievement scores that have been averaged over long time-periods. For the first time, the present study examined intraindividual (within-person) relations between momentary (state) self-concept…

This study explores the self-efficacy and problem-solving skills of middle school mathematics students. The students -- 111 9th graders who were studying a unit for the analysis of function -- were given mathematics instruction that was based on either dynamic or static visualization. Findings revealed a positive impact of instruction that was…

"What if…?" is a four-day summative assessment for a unit on biodiversity and evolution within a general biology course for ninth and tenth graders. Students gather evidence through multiple investigations to answer the questions: (1) "How has life changed on the planet? (2) What has caused those changes? and (3) What is happening…

Advancing in key courses in ninth grade is an early, crucial step in preparing for college. Students who miss academic targets early in high school may not be ready to go to college 4 years later. In the United States, when students fail key courses in ninth grade, they may struggle to catch up to their peers who successfully took and passed these…

Challenges associated with reading in the disciplines are well documented. In this article, we report on a small-scale study that was part of a larger school-university design-based research collaboration focused on improving literacy learning in Australian high schools. We discuss Paired Wide Reading (PWR), an instructional innovation designed to…

The Big Five personality traits are established predictors of school grades. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations are not yet well understood. Effects of personality on grades might arise because behavioral tendencies facilitate learning and increase subject-specific competencies. Alternatively, personality effects on grades might…

Purpose: This paper aims to explore teachers' shifts in pedagogy and practice as they implemented a project-based learning (PBL) approach to teaching English Language Arts (ELA) for the first time. Design/methodology/approach: The authors interviewed 10 ninth-grade ELA teachers in three schools after their first year enacting PBL. Initial codes…

As society becomes more technologically advanced, digital instructional strategies continue to emerge. Students are becoming more involved with technology, and schools must supply students with more tools to succeed in an increasingly technology-based world. This study examined the impact of technology-based strategies in a high school social…

Mixed-ability grouping is widespread in primary schools and in several subject areas in secondary schools in England. Notwithstanding, there is scant research on mixed-ability grouping in the education literature, particularly in terms of its impact on students' experiences. The research reported in this paper employs enactment theory to provide…

Over the last two decades, several studies have overlooked at-school belonging and engagement, two dimensions that are associated with several positive outcomes. However, the relative influence that contexts and interventions may have on these components has received much less attention. In this study, school belonging and engagement were examined…

This investigation examined the impact of preintervention word-reading ability on reading comprehension outcomes for ninth graders with learning disabilities, reading difficulties, and English learners in treatment and comparison conditions. Secondary data analyses were conducted for two separate but related experimental studies of intensive…

Mathematics interest is highly relevant for students' academical and emotional development in the domain of mathematics. Thus, it appears alarming that students' mathematics interest decreases during the course of secondary school. Teacher self-efficacy is a central facet of teacher motivation and is assumed to be highly relevant for student…

We adopted a person-oriented approach to identify patterns of how classroom talk and internal behavioral engagement are combined in students. The research was conducted on a sample of 639 ninth-grade students (32 classes). We measured the duration of classroom talk for each individual student during Czech language and language arts lessons. The…

Integrating situated expectancy-value and family systems theories, the current study tested the extent to which Latinx adolescents' 9th-grade school-related science conversations with parents and older siblings/cousins positively predicted their 10th-grade science ability self-concepts and task values. We also tested whether these links were…