<p> The purpose of this study is to examine the influences certain factors have on the mathematical motivation beliefs of students in a predominantly African American setting. Mathematical motivation beliefs, for the purpose of this study, are defined as the components mathematical self-efficacy and mathematical value, both represented as dependent variables in the study. 4 independent variables were studied as potential influences regarding mathematical motivation beliefs. The variables included parental influences, teacher influences, mathematical anxiety, and the environment/setting. This research was conducted using 2 high schools in a rural area in East Mississippi. The 1^st high school was predominantly African American and the 2^nd high school was predominantly Caucasian. 4 scales were selected for this research study. The Mathematics Confidence Scale, developed by Dowling (1978), Mathematics Problems Performance Scale (Dowling, 1978), Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale (Fennema, 1976), and My Class Activities Survey (MCA, Schweinle &amp; Mims, 2009) were all used. Findings revealed that teacher influence predicted the mathematical motivation beliefs of students in a predominantly African American school environment the most. Findings also indicated that math anxiety significantly predicted math value and self-efficacy in both classroom environments. Lastly, findings revealed that mathematical problem solving was significantly predicted by mathematical self-efficacy for students in a predominantly African American environment.</p>

Thesis (M.A.)--Villanova University, 2009. / Sociology Dept. Includes bibliographical references.

<p> The focus of the research is to explore how organizational and self-regulatory skills support student academic achievement in math class. The project is a mixed-methods study by taking a close look at the use of graphic organizers as a dimension of organizational and self-regulatory skills. The data sources include an online questionnaire, observation notes, individual interviews, and student semester grades. Participants completed a questionnaire about their organizational and self-regulatory skills, including how they have been using graphic organizers and taking notes. The author reported three focal interviews to grasp further how their organizational and self-regulatory skills surface in different settings, including home, school, work, and other routine areas. This document includes the details of data analyses for any associations between students&rsquo; skills and academic achievements. This research concludes (a) participating students carry sufficient social-emotional competencies. However, there is a disconnection between transferring their &ldquo;cultural&rdquo; knowledge into &ldquo;domain&rdquo; knowledge about self-awareness skills, social awareness skills, and responsible decision-making skills. (b) Both Advanced Algebra and Geometry students demonstrate very similar organizational skills, but (c) lower-classmen seem to have relatively higher self-regulatory skills. (d) The greater self-awareness and social awareness skills and better decision-making skills, higher academic achievement in math classes. The author concluded this paper had potential limitations of the findings and implications for future teaching practices. The results of this study may provide instruction insights about how social-emotional competencies affect student academic achievement in secondary math education.</p><p>

<p> The Study Island computer program is one of many highly used instructional programs in school districts nationwide; however, there is little independent research available that provides information about its impact on student achievement performance. This study used a descriptive comparative research design to compare the mean gain scores of the semester that students received math instruction with Study Island to mean gain scores of the semester that students did not receive math instruction with the program to determine if a significant difference exists between the two semesters. The test scores from a sample of 124 ninth-grade math students from an economically disadvantaged suburban school district in a southeastern state were used. The results concluded that the mean gain scores from pretest to posttest of the semester that students used the Study Island program were significantly higher than that of the semester that students did not use the program.</p>

<p> Recent curriculum recommendation call for mathematical argumentation to play a significantly greater role in U. S. mathematics instruction at all grade levels, including the elementary grades. To better understand how preservice elementary teachers (PTs) enrolled in a one-semester course emphasizing mathematical argumentation might become better prepared to implement this change, I interviewed five such PTs at two points in time, near the beginning of the course and shortly after they completed it. Both interviews focused on a problem set in which nine fictional elementary school students present arguments for their solutions to mathematical problems. Interviewees compared the arguments, decided which were convincing and which were not, and gave reasons for their choices. Using an interpretative, phenomenological approach, I analyzed their responses and found that they initially preferred arguments in which they perceived the arguer as knowing what to do, getting the correct answer, using a quick way to get it, showing how with numbers, and having the right attitude. In contrast, after they had completed the course, they focused on understanding the problem, finding answers that made sense, and explaining why with diagrams. They also viewed the arguer&rsquo;s attitude as a more complex issue than they had at the beginning of the course. These and other findings suggest that current research on PTs&rsquo; approaches to mathematical justification may: (a) overemphasize the formal aspects of mathematical arguments and undervalue their substance, (b) overemphasize the role of verification and undervalue explanation, (c) be too far removed from PTs&rsquo; perspectives, and therefore (d) fail to accurately reflect significant progress in PTs&rsquo; understandings.</p>

The study upon which this thesis is based aimed, first of all, to document the history of mathematics curriculum change in Western Australia. Although curriculum development in mathematics in this State has been an ongoing process for at least two decades, the outcome of an extensive literature review conducted as part of the study revealed that only a cursory evaluation of the current upper school mathematics curriculum change process had ever been undertaken. Neither has any formal appraisal of the suitability or otherwise of the variety of new upper school mathematics courses introduced during the last decade ever been carried out.This study was designed to 'fill these gaps' by not only documenting the history of the change process, but also by seeking out teachers' and other educators' views about those curriculum and strategy changes as well as the views of the students who were so intimately involved in the process.Tertiary lecturers' perceptions regarding the mathematical preparedness of first year university students were also considered a relevant source of information in this quest to first, record the events that preceded the establishment of the current State mathematics curriculum, and second, record those events that occurred subsequently. Major reports which have influenced the direction of mathematics education were examined, and underlying didactical principles were identified to determine the origins of previous and current educational policy.To determine upper school mathematics teachers' attitudes to curriculum and strategy changes, and the impact of the present curriculum upon students' choice of mathematics subjects, use was made of a variety of instruments - questionnaires and interview proformas - which were used to interview students prior to questioning them on such matters as their reasons for selecting specific units.Upper school ++ / mathematics teachers were also surveyed and interviewed in order to obtain the practitioners' views on new topics which were introduced, such as complex numbers and vectors. Five of Western Australia's most high profile mathematics educators who played significant roles during the period of this study were interviewed to determine their recollections of major points of discussion and concern in mathematics education at that time. Feedback from these interviews was used to compile a questionnaire for upper high school mathematics teachers to determine their opinion on such issues as the introduction and practicality of the new courses, teaching and learning strategies introduced, and the degree of support for the new curriculum.Ten teachers were interviewed one year after the survey to determine any changes in their perceptions about the new upper school mathematics courses. By means of a questionnaire, students' reasons for choosing specific mathematics subjects in either Year 11 or 12, and their perceived success in mathematics in general were sought. In order to determine the effectiveness of the new curriculum in terms of further studies, students' level of mathematical preparedness was investigated by means of a questionnaire for university mathematics staff. The results of this research indicate that the most recent curriculum change in the upper high school has been successfully introduced by the Education Department of Western Australia, although this has not always been the case with curriculum change in this State.Though initially daunted by the number of new topics which were to be taught, teachers were appreciative of the in-service courses available, the resources present and the general support they received from the Education Department. Traditional teaching strategies, such as 'drill-and-practice' and teacher-centred environments have been largely ++ / replaced by a problem-solving and investigational approach to mathematics in a student-centred classroom environment. Clearly, the constructivist theory of learning has been a major influence on current teaching and learning strategies used in the upper school mathematics classroom. Teachers' opinions about the practicality of the new courses and approaches to teaching them were positive, though the view was held that previous traditional teaching methods should not be discarded.Specific weaknesses in the various mathematics courses introduced were identified (for example, inadequate attention paid to basic algebra and, in particular, to trigonometry), and many teachers were adamant that certain changes should be made for the benefit of the students (for example, reorganisation of parts of the course content). Improvements in the nature of the information provided to students at the time they make their upper school mathematics subject choice were strongly recommended. Information on influential factors regarding students' subject choices was obtained, and interviews with university mathematics staff showed that many first year students remain underprepared because of incorrect mathematics subject choices made in either Year 10 or 11.

There is an inherent contradiction in a system of education in which a significant number of those who are to be taught, do not learn. The schools in the United States have contributed to a generations long pattern of non-achievement which contributes to many of society's ills. The author contends that many of these underachieving students have more ability than they are able to demonstrate easily. An experiment was conducted that empowered remedial mathematics students to pursue some mathematical problems in depth by removing the dual obstacles of poor computational skills and the lack of confidence that their computations produce correct answers.

This study evaluates literacy levels of education using senior high school mathematics textbooks. It uses content analysis, the latent approach and the evaluation research design, to study the costs and benefits of literacy instruction. The examination discusses demands for a literate society in the year 2000, estimates the level instruction to changes in student behavior, and correlates exposure with assessed student performance. The study specifically observes the codes and contents of mathematics textbooks adopted for use in Maryland's inner city public high school mathematics programs. It compares levels of literacy exposure in the Special Education, Regular and Honors programs. It evaluates mathematics education benefits and costs based on the students performance on functional mathematics tests; completion of minimum requirements for admission to college; and vocational certification. It compares the applicability of the mathematics to the demands of society in the year 2000.

The NCTM Standards have established new directions for math teaching and learning. The problem of implementation, particularly in urban school systems remains. This study focuses on an urban school system in Western Massachusetts. Of particular interest to the researcher is the lack of success of students in Algebra I. This particular course has traditionally been the pivotal course that determines if a student gets into and remains in the "College Preparatory" sequence. The fact that too many minority and women students are left out of these choices due to lack of mathematics preparation can be traced back to being left out of algebra in high school. What happened to these students? Why were they left out? Why is the failure rate nearly 45 percent in Algebra I in this public school system? Teachers working in the traditional classroom structure of the current school setting are isolated without opportunities to work in cooperation with other teachers. Without a process for sharing ideas and a method to support new teaching strategies, it will not be possible for the vision of the Standards to become a reality. The challenge for a supervisor is to bring the message of the Standards to the secondary mathematics teachers in an urban school system. This study develops and tests a supervision model, based on peer supervision, for the implementation of teaching strategies recommended in the Standards. The findings of this study show that peer supervision can help school systems bring new teaching strategies, like cooperative learning and hands-on activities, into its Algebra I classrooms.

<p> Stagnant growth on national standardized tests in mathematics and reading and a focus on disciplinary literacy in the Common Core State Standards in ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects has prompted a resurgence in utilizing literacy strategies in the content areas in high school. While literacy standards in mathematics are not explicitly identified in the Common Core State Standards, there may be a place for the use of literacy strategies in high school mathematics. This study explored the relationships between students&rsquo; mathematics and reading achievement scores at a small, suburban high school and the implementation of a school wide literacy program to inform curriculum development and instructional strategies. </p><p> The reading and mathematics achievement of students in ninth through eleventh grade was retroactively analyzed to identify changes in student achievement over a two-year period. In the first year, the ninth grade cohort showed statistically significant improvement on both measures of mathematics achievement. Within this ninth grade cohort, students who qualified for free lunches also saw statistically significant improvement in mathematics. None of the other groups showed improvement on both measures of mathematics achievement or reading achievement. In the second year, both the ninth and tenth grade cohorts showed statistically significant increases on both mathematics and reading achievement. Within each of these grade level cohorts, females and white students also saw statistically significant increases in both mathematics and reading. The eleventh grade cohort did not have any significant increases on either measure. On the state top-to-bottom ranking, this high school has moved from the 4^th percentile to the 25^th percentile during the implementation of the school wide literacy program. </p><p> While national standardized tests have shown little to no improvement over the last several administrations, this small, suburban high school has seen continued growth over the last several years. Though the results of this study cannot be used to determine a causal relationship between the implementation of literacy strategies and the academic achievement of students in either mathematics or reading, it does provide a case for further investigation into such a relationship.</p><p>