American Educational Research Journal recent issues

The Evolving Role of the Courts in Educational Policy: The Tension Between Judicial, Scientific, and Democratic Decision Making in Kitzmiller v. Dover

Superfine, B. M. — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:03 PST

In Kitzmiller v. Dover (2005), a court defined science to decide the legitimacy of teaching intelligent design to high school biology students. This study analyzes Kitzmiller in light of the complex and interrelated tensions between judicial, scientific, and democratic decision making that lie at the heart of modern educational governance. This study particularly explores how these tensions become more acute where the meaning of science itself is contested and examines how these tensions can be structured and balanced in a nuanced way in the institutional setting of the courts. Based on this examination, this study highlights major issues that bear upon an analysis of when it is appropriate for governmental entities to define science for educational policy purposes.

Student Characteristics, Pre-College, College, and Environmental Factors as Predictors of Majoring in and Earning a STEM Degree: An Analysis of Students Attending a Hispanic Serving Institution

Crisp, G., Nora, A., Taggart, A. — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:03 PST

This study examined the demographic, pre-college, environmental, and college factors that impact students’ interests in and decisions to earn a science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) degree among students attending a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Results indicated that Hispanic students were well represented among STEM majors, and students’ decisions to declare a STEM major and earn a STEM degree were uniquely influenced by students’ gender, ethnicity, SAT math score, and high school percentile. Earning a STEM degree was related to students’ first-semester GPA and enrollment in mathematics and science "gatekeeper" courses. Findings indicate that HSIs may be an important point of access for students in STEM fields and may also provide opportunity for more equitable outcomes for Hispanic students.

Study Involvement of Academic and Vocational Students: Does Between-School Tracking Sharpen the Difference?

Van Houtte, M., Stevens, P. A. J. — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:03 PST

Although a rich tradition of mainly U.S. and U.K. research focuses on the nature and effects of tracking students within schools, little research has investigated the importance of tracking students in the same or in separate schools. The authors used data from a unique, representative survey in Flanders (Belgium) to examine how students’ study involvement varied between multilateral schools (in which all different tracks are offered) and categorial schools (in which only particular tracks are offered) and whether the relation between track and study involvement varied between these school types. Multilevel analyses of data gathered in 2004 and 2005 from academic and vocational third and fifth grade students in a sample of Flemish secondary schools showed that vocational students had slightly lower study involvement in multilateral schools. Although academic students were more study involved than vocational students, this difference was larger in multilateral schools than in categorial schools. The data suggest that in multilateral schools, vocational students compared themselves with academic-track students, consistent with the hypothesis of increased status deprivation, resulting in even stronger antischool attitudes. The implications of these findings for further research and social policy are discussed.

Perils and Promises: Middle-Class Parental Involvement in Urban Schools

Cucchiara, M. B., Horvat, E. M. — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:03 PST

Given recent trends, middle-class families may become an increasing presence in urban districts. Such parents could help secure badly needed resources and raise expectations. This study of parental involvement in two urban schools suggests that middle-class parental involvement may be more complex than often assumed. The authors find that middle-class parents bring myriad resources to urban schools and can be catalysts for change. However, the relationship between parental involvement and widespread benefit was mediated by parents’ own goals and perspectives as well as by the larger social context. Furthermore, compared to a more individualistic approach to parental involvement, a collective orientation is more sustainable and has greater potential for benefiting all children in the school, without regard to their social class.

Increasing Achievement by Focusing Grade-Level Teams on Improving Classroom Learning: A Prospective, Quasi-Experimental Study of Title I Schools

Saunders, W. M., Goldenberg, C. N., Gallimore, R. — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:03 PST

The authors conducted a quasi-experimental investigation of effects on achievement by grade-level teams focused on improving learning. For 2 years (Phase 1), principals-only training was provided. During the final 3 years (Phase 2), school-based training was provided for principals and teacher leaders on stabilizing team settings and using explicit protocols for grade-level meetings. Phase 1 produced no differences in achievement between experimental and comparable schools. During Phase 2, experimental group scores improved at a faster rate than at comparable schools and exhibited greater achievement growth over 3 years on state-mandated tests and an achievement index. Stable school-based settings, distributed leadership, and explicit protocols are key to effective teacher teams. The long-term sustainability of teacher teams depends on coherent and aligned district policies and practices.

The Contested Classroom Space: A Decade of Lived Educational Policy in Texas Schools

Craig, C. J. — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:03 PST

In this article, examples excerpted from research studies conducted in Houston, Texas, the fourth largest city in the United States, are used to demonstrate how the discretionary classroom space where teachers and students actively live curriculum—guided, though, not controlled, by official documents and administrative oversight—has become increasingly disputed. Through meta-level narrative analysis, excerpts from several accounts that elucidate different manifestations of the contested classroom space in multiple school contexts are woven together. In the process, the ways that teachers, principals, parents, professors, consultants, district personnel, the media, researchers, and students contributed to the contentious environment are explicated. Also, versions of curriculum and instruction that increased the contestation are named. As a result, changes that teachers and students lived in classrooms from 1997 to 2007, the decade when educational policy making in Texas served as the prototype for the U.S. No Child Left Behind Act, are characterized.

Source Evaluation, Comprehension, and Learning in Internet Science Inquiry Tasks

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:03 PST

In two experiments, undergraduates’ evaluation and use of multiple Internet sources during a science inquiry task were examined. In Experiment 1, undergraduates had the task of explaining what caused the eruption of Mt. St. Helens using the results of an Internet search. Multiple regression analyses indicated that source evaluation significantly predicted learning outcomes, with more successful learners better able to discriminate scientifically reliable from unreliable information. In Experiment 2, an instructional unit (SEEK) taught undergraduates how to evaluate the reliability of information sources. Undergraduates who used SEEK while working on an inquiry task about the Atkins low-carbohydrate diet displayed greater differentiation in their reliability judgments of information sources than a comparison group. Both groups then participated in the Mt. St. Helens task. Undergraduates in the SEEK conditions demonstrated better learning from the volcano task. The current studies indicate that the evaluation of information sources is critical to successful learning from Internet-based inquiry and amenable to improvement through instruction.

Learner Performance in Multimedia Learning Arrangements: An Analysis Across Instructional Approaches

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:03 PST

In this study, the authors compared four multimedia learning arrangements differing in instructional approach on effectiveness and efficiency for learning: (a) hypermedia learning, (b) observational learning, (c) self-explanation–based learning, and (d) inquiry learning. The approaches all advocate learners’ active attitude toward the learning material but show differences in the specific learning processes they intend to foster. Learning results were measured on different types of knowledge: conceptual, intuitive, procedural, and situational. The outcomes show that the two approaches asking learners to generate (parts of) the subject matter (either by self-explanations or by conducting experiments) led to better performance on all types of knowledge. However, results also show that emphasis on generating subject matter by the learner resulted in less efficient learning.

AERJ Section on Social and Institutional Analysis August 2008-September 2009

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:03 PST

AERJ Section on Teaching, Learning, and Human Development October 2008-September 2009

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:20:03 PST

National Income, Income Inequality, and the Importance of Schools: A Hierarchical Cross-National Comparison

Chudgar, A., Luschei, T. F. — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:22:47 PDT

The international and comparative education literature is not in agreement over the role of schools in student learning. The authors reexamine this debate across 25 diverse countries participating in the fourth-grade application of the 2003 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. The authors find the following: (a) In most cases, family background is more important than schools in understanding variations in student performance; (b) schools are nonetheless a significant source of variation in student performance, especially in poor and unequal countries; (c) in some cases, schools may bridge the achievement gap between high and low socioeconomic status children. However, schools’ ability to do so is not systematically related to a country’s economic or inequality status.

Assessing the Contribution of Distributed Leadership to School Improvement and Growth in Math Achievement

Heck, R. H., Hallinger, P. — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:22:47 PDT

Although there has been sizable growth in the number of empirical studies of shared forms of leadership over the past decade, the bulk of this research has been descriptive. Relatively few published studies have investigated the impact of shared leadership on school improvement. This longitudinal study examines the effects of distributed leadership on school improvement and growth in student math achievement in 195 elementary schools in one state over a 4-year period. Using multilevel latent change analysis, the research found significant direct effects of distributed leadership on change in the schools’ academic capacity and indirect effects on student growth rates in math. The study supports a perspective on distributed leadership that aims at building the academic capacity of schools as a means of improving student learning outcomes.

Teacher Tradeoffs: Disentangling Teachers' Preferences for Working Conditions and Student Demographics

Horng, E. L. — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:22:47 PDT

One of the greatest differences in resources across schools in California comes from an inequitable distribution of teachers. This study identifies reasons for this sorting of teachers by surveying 531 teachers in a California elementary school district. The surveys ask the teachers to make choices between various workplace characteristics. With this information, the study disentangles student demographics from other characteristics of teaching jobs that are amenable to policy influences. It finds that teachers identify working conditions—particularly, school facilities, administrative support, and class sizes—and salaries as significantly more important than student characteristics when selecting a school in which to work.

Is There an Expectations Gap? Educational Federalism and the Demographic Distribution of Proficiency Cut Scores

Reed, D. S. — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:22:47 PDT

Recent analyses of state-level proficiency standards under No Child Left Behind indicate that states’ benchmarks for determining whether a child is proficient in reading and math are widely divergent. This article explores whether the capacity of states to employ different proficiency standards imposes different performance standards across demographic groups. Using a newly devised metric that allows for interstate comparison of state-level proficiency cut scores, along with aggregated district-level demographic data, this article provides a descriptive analysis of the distribution of proficiency standards across demographic groups to determine whether some groups systematically face higher or lower proficiency cut scores. The findings indicate that while an "expectations gap" does exist, it does not operate consistently across categories of race, ethnicity, and poverty status. The article concludes by reviewing the trade-offs required under three possible policy responses to these findings.

One-Year Follow-Up Outcomes of Spanish and English Interventions for English Language Learners at Risk for Reading Problems

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:22:47 PDT

The authors report 1-year follow-up data from 215 English language learners with reading difficulties who received a supplemental first grade reading intervention in the language of their core reading instruction. The researchers provided no intervention or boosters in second grade. The Spanish study revealed significant differences favoring treatment students on Spanish measures of decoding, spelling, fluency, and comprehension (median d = 0.53). Similar results were evidenced in the English study, with significant differences favoring treatment students on English measures of oral language, decoding, spelling, fluency, and comprehension (median d = 0.40). Few direct transfer effects were noted for either language. The first grade intervention was associated with stronger skills in a variety of literacy-related domains 1 year after its termination.

The Impact of Financial Aid on College GPA at Three Flagship Public Institutions

Stater, M. — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:22:47 PDT

Academic achievement in higher education is an important current policy issue because institutions are under public pressure to justify state subsidies and rising tuitions with demonstrable gains in student learning. This article uses data from three flagship public universities to examine the effects of financial aid on first- through fourth-year college grade point average. The findings indicate that need-based aid and merit-based aid both have positive effects throughout college, and thus colleges may be able to use financial policy levers to increase academic achievement. However, since the effect of merit aid is larger than that of need-based aid, institutions may have incentives to reallocate aid and admissions spots from needy to merit students unless appropriate safeguards are adopted.

A Visibility Project: Learning to See How Preservice Teachers Take Up Culturally Responsive Pedagogy

Gere, A. R., Buehler, J., Dallavis, C., Haviland, V. S. — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:22:47 PDT

This study analyzes the ways in which raced consciousness inflects developing understandings of cultural responsiveness among preservice teachers whose preparation included responses to imaginative engagement with literary texts, interactions in an underresourced school, and exploration of key concepts of culturally responsive pedagogy. The authors analyze how this preparation created spaces that made the diverse and complex understandings of cultural responsiveness held by teacher candidates and instructors visible and how raced consciousness shaped these understandings. Findings suggest that incorporation of multicultural literary texts, continual interrogation of attitudes toward race and racism, and explicit engagement with raced consciousness fosters learning about how beginning teachers take up cultural responsiveness, given the persistent stereotypes and the raced consciousness that shape their language and perceptions.

The Hispanic-White Achievement Gap in Math and Reading in the Elementary Grades

Reardon, S. F., Galindo, C. — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:22:47 PDT

This article describes the developmental patterns of Hispanic-White math and reading achievement gaps in elementary school, paying attention to variation in these patterns among Hispanic subgroups. Compared to non-Hispanic White students, Hispanic students enter kindergarten with much lower average math and reading skills. The gaps narrow by roughly a third in the first 2 years of schooling but remain relatively stable for the next 4 years. The development of achievement gaps varies considerably among Hispanic subgroups. Students with Mexican and Central American origins—particularly first- and second-generation immigrants—and those from homes where English is not spoken have the lowest math and reading skill levels at kindergarten entry but show the greatest achievement gains in the early years of schooling.

Racial Diversity Matters: The Impact of Diversity-Related Student Engagement and Institutional Context

Denson, N., Chang, M. J. — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:27:38 PDT

This study addressed two questions: (a) Do different forms of campus racial diversity contribute uniquely to students’ learning and educational experiences when they are simultaneously tested utilizing multilevel modeling? (b) Does a campus where students take greater advantage of those diversity opportunities have independent positive effects on students’ learning? Consideration of racial diversity extended beyond student composition and included social and curricular engagement. Results suggest that benefits associated with diversity may be more far-reaching than previously documented. Not only do students benefit from engaging with racial diversity through related knowledge acquisition or cross-racial interaction but also from being enrolled on a campus where other students are more engaged with those forms of diversity, irrespective of their own level of engagement.

Conflicts, Commitments, and Cliques in the University: Moral Seduction as a Threat to Trustee Independence

Bastedo, M. N. — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:27:38 PDT

The ability of trustees to make independent judgments in the best interests of the university is a fundamental characteristic of an effective governing board. Trustee independence is increasingly threatened, however, as the university becomes more deeply embedded in government, industry, networks, and the professions. This topic is investigated through analysis of qualitative interviews, focus group observations, and informant-produced documents from 59 public university presidents. It is argued that threats to trustee independence are produced primarily through a process of moral seduction that allows trustees to engage in self-interested decision making while maintaining an ethical self-concept. The article then provides a conceptual model to frame our understanding of how important social actors seek to capture and co-opt boards of trustees to serve external interests and describes how the institutional mechanism of moral seduction creates important policy considerations.

No Small Thing: School District Central Office Bureaucracies and the Implementation of New Small Autonomous Schools Initiatives

Honig, M. I. — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:27:38 PDT

New small autonomous schools initiatives are relatively recent educational change strategies that in some urban districts aim to remake how district central offices function as institutions. In this article, the author draws on theories of organizational innovation and learning to reveal how central office administrators participate in these change processes, what outcomes are associated with their efforts, and the conditions that help or hinder their work. The data came from a 3-year qualitative investigation of these dynamics in two districts. The results show that particular bridging and buffering activities by certain central office administrators were consistent with policy goals and linked to increasing district supports for implementation. Particular dimensions of the institutional environments of central offices shaped central office administrators’ choices and actions.

School Violence and Theoretically Atypical Schools: The Principal's Centrality in Orchestrating Safe Schools

Astor, R. A., Benbenishty, R., Estrada, J. N. — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:27:38 PDT

Theories often assume that schools in communities with high violence also have high rates of school violence, yet there are schools with very low violence in high violence communities. Organizational variables within these schools may buffer community influences. Nine "atypical" schools are selected from a national database in Israel. Three years of intense qualitative and quantitative methods are employed at these schools. The most important variable found is the leadership of the principal. These schools emphasize a school reform approach rather than packaged school violence evidence-based programs. The schools demonstrate "outward" oriented ideologies, a schoolwide awareness of violence, consistent procedures, integrated use of cultural and religious symbols, visual manifestations of student care, and the beautification of school grounds.

Purposes, Practices, and Sites: A Comparative Case of Two Pathways Into Middle School Teaching

Conklin, H. G. — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:27:38 PDT

Drawing on sociological and cognitive psychological perspectives on teacher learning, this comparative case study investigates the myriad influences that shape teachers’ learning in two divergent teacher education pathways. Specifically, this article explores a case of the two most common pathways into middle school teaching—the elementary and secondary pathways—and their contribution to the preparation of middle school social studies teachers. The findings of this study provide important insights into the instructional practices in which teacher education programs engage prospective teachers, the explicit and implicit purposes toward which these practices are directed, and the program opportunities that support those purposes. The author discusses how these findings inform the preparation of middle school teachers specifically and teacher education practice and policy generally.

Teaching Mathematics for Understanding: An Analysis of Lessons Submitted by Teachers Seeking NBPTS Certification

Silver, E. A., Mesa, V. M., Morris, K. A., Star, J. R., Benken, B. M. — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:27:38 PDT

The authors present an analysis of portfolio entries submitted by candidates seeking certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in the area of Early Adolescence/Mathematics. Analyses of mathematical features revealed that the tasks used in instruction included a range of mathematics topics but were not consistently intellectually challenging. Analyses of key pedagogical features of the lesson materials showed that tasks involved hands-on activities or real-world contexts and technology but rarely required students to provide explanations or demonstrate mathematical reasoning. The findings suggest that, even in lessons that teachers selected for display as best practice examples of teaching for understanding, innovative pedagogical approaches were not systematically used in ways that supported students’ engagement with cognitively demanding mathematical tasks.

The Impact of Professional Development and Coaching on Early Language and Literacy Instructional Practices

Neuman, S. B., Cunningham, L. — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:27:38 PDT

This study examines the impact of professional development on teacher knowledge and quality early language and literacy practices in center- and home-based care settings. Participants from 291 sites (177 centers; 114 home-based) in four cities were randomly selected to: Group 1, 3-credit course in early language and literacy; Group 2, course plus ongoing coaching; Group 3, control group. Analysis of covariance indicated no significant differences between groups on teacher knowledge. However, there were statistically significant improvements in language and literacy practices for teachers who received coursework plus coaching with substantial effect sizes for both center- and home-based providers. Professional development alone had negligible effects on improvements in quality practices. Coursework and coaching may represent a promising quality investment in early childhood.

Fostering High-Quality Teaching With an Enriched Curriculum and Professional Development Support:The Head Start REDI Program

Thu, 14 May 2009 16:27:38 PDT

This randomized controlled trial tested whether teaching quality in Head Start classrooms could be improved with the addition of evidence-based curriculum components targeting emergent language or literacy and social-emotional development and the provision of associated professional development support. Participants were lead and assistant teachers in 44 Head Start classrooms. Teachers received 4 days of workshop training along with weekly in-class support from a mentor teacher. End-of-year observations indicated that compared with the control group, intervention teachers talked with children more frequently and in more cognitively complex ways, established a more positive classroom climate, and used more preventive behavior-management strategies. Results supported the conclusion that enriched curriculum components and professional development support can produce improvements in multiple domains of teaching quality.

Research in the Midst of Organized School Reform: Versions of Teacher Community in Tension

Craig, C. J. — Thu, 14 May 2009 16:27:38 PDT

Arising from a longitudinal study examining the influence of school reform on teachers’ knowledge communities and communities of knowing, this narrative inquiry traces the development of a workshop approach to reading and writing, principally through the introduction of a staff developer, to the school’s professional knowledge landscape and to the literacy teachers’ curriculum making over a 3-year period. While some of the school administrators perceived the trainer as building professional learning community through sharing knowledge, skills, and dispositions, the majority of the teachers, and some of the other administrators, appeared to view the staff developer, herself a teacher, as being in collusion with the principal (and vice versa) and as crossing the line concerning what teachers and their communities of knowing are able to tolerate. Different stories produced different visions of community, and a number of issues related to teacher development emerged. Disconnects among theory, practice, and policy surfaced.

Editorial Statement

Weis, L. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:16:44 PST

Threat Rigidity, School Reform, and How Teachers View Their Work Inside Current Education Policy Contexts

Olsen, B., Sexton, D. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:16:44 PST

This article reports on a study of teachers at one reforming high school. Though it is not their task to debate No Child Left Behind (NCLB), the authors locate their investigation inside the current policy context to which NCLB is attached. Specifically, they present their analysis through the organizational behavior lens of threat rigidity to discuss the ways that current federal and state policy contexts influence schools and how those affected schools in turn adopt corresponding reforms that influence teachers’ work. The analysis demonstrates that on both levels, such influence occurs in similar ways: by centralizing and restricting the flow of information, by constricting control, by emphasizing routinized and simplified instructional/assessment practices, and by applying strong pressure for school personnel to conform.

Toward a Theory of Generative Change in Culturally and Linguistically Complex Classrooms

Ball, A. F. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:16:44 PST

This article situates the preparation of teachers to teach in culturally and linguistically complex classrooms in international contexts. It investigates long-term social and institutional effects of professional development and documents processes that facilitate teachers’ continued learning. Data from a decade-long study of U.S. and South African teachers supported a model of generative change that explained how professional development could be internalized by teachers, subsequently serving as a heuristic to help them organize their individual programs of instruction. Drawing primarily on two case studies, this article documents teachers’ development of generative knowledge and illustrates how they drew on that knowledge in thinking about students and teaching. The results were to facilitate generative thinking on the part of their students as well.

What Does It Mean to Be African American? Constructions of Race and Academic Identity in an Urban Public High School

Nasir, N. S., McLaughlin, M. W., Jones, A. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:16:44 PST

In this article, the authors explore variation in the meanings of racial identity for African American students in a predominantly African American urban high school. They view racial identity as both related to membership in a racial group and as fluid and reconstructed in the local school setting. They draw on both survey data and observational data to examine the nature of racial identity meanings for African American students, their relation to academic engagement and achievement, and how they were fostered by the school context. Findings show that students embraced (and were offered differential access to) different meanings of African American racial identity and that these meanings were differentially related to achievement and engagement.

Discourses and Strategic Visions: The U.S. Research University as an Institutional Manifestation of Neoliberalism in a Global Era

Gaffikin, F., Perry, D. C. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:16:44 PST

It is argued widely that the academy today is in the process of significant change—in the institutional assumptions of what constitutes the university and the construction of knowledge and in its relations with the city and the world. This article addresses the evolution of the modern university in the context of the discourses of contemporary globalizing institutions. Further, it empirically assesses the organizational priorities of U.S. research universities in light of the application of these discourses to their objectives and practices, finding that they are playing a key role in the formal representation of the institutional direction, goals, and values of American higher education.

Predicting Teacher Performance With Test Scores and Grade Point Average: A Meta-Analysis

D'Agostino, J. V., Powers, S. J. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:16:44 PST

A meta-analysis was conducted to examine the degree to which teachers’ test scores and their performance in preparation programs as measured by their collegiate grade point average (GPA) predicted their teaching competence. Results from 123 studies that yielded 715 effect sizes were analyzed, and the mediating effects of test and GPA type, criterion type, teaching level, service level, and decade of data collection were considered. It was found that test scores were at best modestly related to teaching competence and that performance in preparation programs was a significantly better predictor of teaching skill. Results revealed that test scores likely do not provide additional information beyond preservice performance to safeguard the public from incompetent teaching.

How Teachers Respond to Children's Inquiry

Engel, S., Randall, K. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:16:44 PST

This study examined how teachers respond when children engage in inquiry-based deviations from a planned task. Thirty-one teachers each completed a brief science activity and accompanying worksheet with a student confederate. Teachers were given one of two goals for the study: help the students complete a worksheet or help the students learn more about science. The instructions had a significant effect on the teachers’ responses to students’ deviations. Teachers in the worksheet condition tended to discourage deviation and draw the students back to the task at hand, whereas teachers in the learn more condition were more likely to encourage and expand on the deviation. Apart from their responses to students’ deviations, nearly all teachers were classified as encouraging, suggesting that an articulated goal for the activity has a particular effect on the response to deviations. Implications for the role of teachers in the development of children’s curiosity are considered.

The Preparation of Students From National Science Foundation-Funded and Commercially Developed High School Mathematics Curricula for Their First University Mathematics Course

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:16:44 PST

The selection of K–12 mathematics curricula has become a polarizing issue for schools, teachers, parents, and other educators and has raised important questions about the long-term influence of these curricula. This study examined the impact of participation in either a National Science Foundation–funded or commercially developed mathematics curriculum on the difficulty level of the first university mathematics course a student enrolled in and the grade earned in that course. The results provide evidence that National Science Foundation–funded curricula do not prepare students to initially enroll in more difficult university mathematics courses as well as commercially developed curricula, but once enrolled students earn similar grades. These findings have important implications for high school mathematics curriculum selection and for future research in this area.

Educational Computer Use in Leisure Contexts: A Phenomenological Study of Adolescents' Experiences at Internet Cafes

Cilesiz, S. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:16:44 PST

Computer use is a widespread leisure activity for adolescents. Leisure contexts, such as Internet cafés, constitute specific social environments for computer use and may hold significant educational potential. This article reports a phenomenological study of adolescents’ experiences of educational computer use at Internet cafés in Turkey. The purposes of the study were to understand and describe the phenomenon in depth and arrive at the essence of adolescents’ experiences with the phenomenon. Data were collected through series of in-depth phenomenological interviews with six adolescents and analyzed using phenomenal analysis. The results include potential benefits of Internet cafés as specific social leisure contexts of educational computer use for adolescent development. Implications for designing and studying computer-based informal learning environments are presented.

Sources of Middle School Students' Self-Efficacy in Mathematics: A Qualitative Investigation

Usher, E. L. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:16:44 PST

According to A. Bandura’s (1986) social cognitive theory, individuals form their self-efficacy beliefs by interpreting information from four sources: mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasions, and physiological or affective states. The purpose of this study was to examine the heuristics students use as they form their mathematics self-efficacy from these and other sources. Semistructured interviews were conducted with eight middle school students who reported either high or low self-efficacy and with students’ parents and mathematics teachers. Students relied on information from all four hypothesized sources, which were combined according to various heuristics. Teaching structures, course placement, and students’ self-regulated learning also emerged as important factors related to self-efficacy. Results refine and extend the tenets of social cognitive theory.