The following dissertation investigates the relationship between depressed mood and academic performance (measured in terms of grade point average) in U.S. middle and high schools. Utilizing data from AddHealth, the dissertation establishes Ordinary Least Squares, Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS), and individual and sibling fixed effect regressions that attempt to control for confounding factors, including student motivation, personality characteristics, and parental inputs that are unobserved but may influence both mental health and achievement. Study findings indicate that students who report feeling depressed do not perform as well academically as non-depressed students. Additionally, the degree of GPA impact increases with the severity of reported depression. Students reporting either depressed feelings "most or all of the time" - or symptoms consistent with major depression suffer GPA reductions of 0.06 to 0.84 grade points. In addition, middle schoolers and certain minority groups are hardest hit by depression, and persistent depression has a negative impact on grades.

The 21st century mathematics classroom looks and operates differently than it did half a century ago. Not only are teachers expected to facilitate activities rather than lecture, they are also expected to utilize technology. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics established the technology principle to guide teachers into this practice in 2000. Today there are middle school mathematics teachers who use technology effectively in the classroom. However, there is a dearth of literature in this area on how they select and use technology. The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the process by which these teachers select and use technology in their classroom. Activity theory and teacher thinking process model provided a conceptual framework for this study. The guiding research questions are: (1) How do successful urban middle grades mathematics teachers, who use technology effectively, describe their teaching practices? (2) What are the strategies teachers use when integrating technology effectively in the classroom? Using a case study approach, the researcher collected data over 4 months from 3 urban middle school teachers – one on each grade level 6th, 7th, and 8th. Data sources included lesson plans, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations. Findings revealed that teachers consider the types of learners when deciding what technology is appropriate to use. Teachers also preview technology prior to using it in the classroom. Emerging themes were grouped in five categories to describe how teachers plan and implement technology effectively. They are preparation, engagement, assessment, communication, and evaluation. The research findings give strategies to support teacher’s decisions about using technology for all types of learners and how to be effective in every phase of learning – whether it is introducing a lesson, remediating skills, or assessing knowledge. These findings also enable stakeholders to make informed decisions about technology in their school so that teachers will be able to elevate the quality of instruction with appropriate technology resources. Extended research should measure the impact that technology has on student learning. The likelihood of teachers using technology and using it more often would increase at a faster rate if there is evidence that the growth of student achievement occurs more rapidly when using technology.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka om en matematisk diagnos kan användas för att bedöma hur likvärdigt betyg sätts. Studien visar att diagnosen indikerar skillnader i likvärdighet som ligger i linje med tidigare forskning. En mer detaljerad undersökning där diagnosen jämförs med nationella prov skulle ge ett säkrare svar angående diagnosens tillförlitlighet. Diagnosens förmåga att förutsäga elevernas betyg i första matematikkursen i gymnasiet var god. Sambandet mellan diagnos och gymnasiebetyg var starkare än sambandet mellan diagnos och grundskolebetyg. Detta kan ha flera orsaker: (i) gymnasielärarna som konstruerat diagnosen har endast tagit med uppgifter som sammanfaller med första gymnasiekursen, (ii) grundskolor sätter betyg på olika grunder, (iii) elevernas matematikkunskaper förändras över sommarlovet. / The purpose of the study was to evaluate how well a matematical test can measure the equity of grades between schools. This study indicates that the test shows differences in equity that also has been seen in earlier research. A more detailed investigation, where the local test compared with the national tests, would be appropriate to better decide the reliability of method. The mathematical test has also shown potential to give a good indication about the pupils further progress in upper secondary school. The grades from the previos school is less accurate which can depend on: (i) the teachers, that have constructed the test, have only included excercises that are of use for the first course in mathematics in upper secondary school, (ii) the grades are not reflecting knowledge, (iii) the knowledge changes over the summer vacation.

The purpose of the study is to investigate factors of 7th graders learning attitude in mathematics. According to the result of this study, the research provides some suggestions for the education authorities, the schools and future study. The approaches used in this research are Questionnaire on Mathematics Learning Attitude. 168 7th graders were randomly sampled at a Junior High School in Kaohsiung City. The feedback undergoes a descriptive statistics, two-sample independent Student t test, Pearson Correlation among other statistical methods. The following are conclusions of the research: 1. Factors of influencing 7th graders Attitude in Mathematics are the following eight elements. They are confidence of learning, influence of teachers, concept about value of mathematics, influence of the art of teaching, efficacy of self-learning, effect of learning, pressure of learning, and fearlessness. 2. Confidence of learning, influence of teachers, concept about value of mathematics, efficacy of self-learning, effect of learning, fearlessness, and grades in mathematics have moderate related. 3. Concept about value of mathematics, effect of learning, influence of teachers, efficacy of self-learning, fearlessness, confidence of learning demonstrate significantly different degrees of respect on students whose grades between above 70 and under 70. 4. Confidence of learning, influence of teachers, concept about value of mathematics, efficacy of self-learning, effect of learning, fearlessness can forecast learning grades in mathematics. Ultimately, based up on the above findings, the researcher of this study proposed 3 suggestions for the authorities concerned and official staffs.

Are students in the physical sciences/engineering (PS/E) similar, in terms of academic performance and degree persistence, to students majoring in other fields? Previous research tends to focus exclusively on students within STEM; conversely, this dissertation uses a nationally representative sample to examine persistence rates among students whose initial major is in PS/E, life science, business, social science, education, health, or humanities. Students in PS/E majors are sometimes more and sometimes less likely than students in other fields to earn a degree in their initial field of study versus another field. Additionally, students in PS/E are the most academically prepared for college, as measured by high school mathematics and English performance. Despite these high levels of preparation, PS/E students earn lower college grades within their intended field of study than students in other fields. The results show that the gap in college grades, net of background and preparation, explains (in part) why students in business, education, and humanities have higher persistence rates than students in PS/E. Moreover, the association between within-field college grades and persistence is strongest for PS/E students. Taken together, these results demonstrate that students who enter PS/E are indeed unique in terms of academic performance, persistence, and the relationship between the two. Further, among PS/E students, females are more likely than males to earn a degree in fields outside of PS/E compared to within PS/E. Using college transcript data, I investigate the commonly used argument that gender gaps in PS/E persistence can be explained by female underachievement during the college years. Regardless of whether performance is measured using students' PS/E GPA, the proportion of low grades earned, or the difference between PS/E and non-PS/E GPA, there is no evidence that differences in performance explain the gender gap in persistence. This result is not surprising given there is no significant gender gap in PS/E grades. Lastly, I find that the relationship between PS/E GPA and persistence is similar across gender. These results build on the growing body of literature suggesting that gender differences in academic performance are ineffective at explaining gender inequality in PS/E. / text

There is some controversy over whether adolescent alcohol use has deleterious causal effects on educational outcomes. In particular, does drinking reduce academic performance and school enrollment rates and increase truancy, or does the observed negative correlation between drinking and educational outcomes merely reflect common unobservable factors? This dissertation sheds further light on the issue by estimating the causal impacts of alcohol use on various educational outcomes. Specifically, an instrumental variables model is estimated to study the effects of several drinking measures on grades, school enrollment and absenteeism.

This study aims to explore the experiences of teaching foundation phase multi-grade classes in rural settings. I am interested in understanding how teachers teach multi-grade classes so that I am able to make sense of the challenges and opportunities that they encounter. This is a qualitative case study and is guided by the interpretive paradigm. Purposeful sampling was used to select participants. I collected data by using qualitative research methods including interviews and observations. Interviews were audio-taped, transcribed and interpreted through an open coding process. Data was synthesised and resulted in the formulation of five themes. The findings show that teachers were faced with challenges which include lack of proper training, insufficient support from stakeholders, no workshops organised for multi-grade teachers, lack of resources at school which makes teaching and learning difficult, conditions of the school and the community that are not conducive to effective teaching and learning. Recommendations include that multi-grade teachers need to receive ongoing support from stakeholders. They also need to be given pre- and in-service training so that they are aware of strategies they can use to overcome challenges that they encounter when teaching. The Department of Education needs to provide relevant support for the benefit of the learners and the community. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Edgewood, 2011.

Although there has been extensive research focused on school violence, very little research has been conducted on the relationship between perceptions of school violence and personal safety and perceived academic performance of students in rural areas. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate how self-reported perceptions of school violence and personal safety are related to perceived marks in math and ELA in a small rural Manitoba school division. Data were collected from two groups of students (Grades 4 to 6 and Grades 7 to 12) who completed different versions of the Canadian Public Health Association Safe School Survey (CPHA) and also answered questions prepared by the school division’s Health and Safety Committee regarding their perceptions of individual math and ELA marks. The implications of the findings of this study for the school division are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

Studies reveal a variation in the effects on education outcome from various social, political, and economical factors. The constant change makes it challenging to collect relevant data, and yet estimate a precise model which would still be applicable after a period of time. The PISA report of 2012 revealed that the Swedish students’ knowledge had dropped for the first time below the average for the OECD countries, starting a large debate regarding the explanations of the result. This paper empirically investigates, with the use of two-way fixed effects, the impact on the outcome variable average grade by the continuous variables per-pupil spending, educated teachers, amount of students per teacher, foreign students, and educated parents over the years from 2002 to 2013. The data used showed a presence of multicollinearity and heteroscedasticity, and robust standard errors were produced. The results show a negative coefficient effect on the education outcome by the per-pupil spending -0.00269 (0.001), and a positive coefficient effect by educated teachers 0.00066 (0.012) and educated parents 3.16903 (0.423). The continuous variables amount of students per teacher and foreign students were statistically insignificant. A yearly effect was present where the statistically significant values ranged from 0.11699:0.27475. A large share of the outcome proved to follow previous studies, whereas the deviants could partly be explained by structural changes in the Swedish schools, and grade inflation. The subjective nature of the outcome variable was however questioned as the schools’ themselves graded and reported the results. The paper provides a modern analysis of patterns for the Swedish students, municipalities, and interested to further investigate the underlying structure and problems.

The purpose of this study was to examine the training and development of teachers in multi-grade teaching in selected Eastern Cape primary schools with a particular focus on the integration of vertical and horizontal knowledge in post-training. Multigrade teaching is the combining of learners of different grade levels in one classroom taught by one teacher. To gain better understanding of the construct of vertical and horizontal integration of knowledge within post-training environment, this qualitative case study design sampled eight teachers, four school principals and three trainers, purposively. In order to evaluate the training and development provided for teachers in multi-grade classrooms the researcher examined the training programmes, the training curriculum and transfer of training inputs. The results of the study indicate that post-training is the determinant of the extent of the effectiveness of the transfer of training skills, knowledge and attitudes gained in multi-grade teaching training. The study found a massive gap that currently exists between training in multi-grade teaching and the actual transferability of such training in multi-grade contexts. Positive transfer of training in multi-grade teaching strategies was found to be skills related to teaching strategies, lesson management, curriculum integration and social components of multi-grade teaching. Negative transfer of training included classroom organisation, lesson planning, timetabling, curriculum adaptation and assessment. Although multi-grade teacher training programme is assumed to change behaviours, attitudes, impart knowledge and improve teaching skills, the results of the study indicate that training inputs might not necessarily transform into classroom practice. In order to facilitate and ensure vertical and horizontal integration of knowledge and skills and transfer of training to classroombased teaching, recurrent training in multi-grade teaching is therefore, suggested.