Academic emphasis, collective efficacy, and faculty trust in students and parents (3 school characteristics positively associated with student achievement) are assumed to form a higher order latent construct, "academic optimism" (Hoy, Tarter, & Woolfolk Hoy, 2006a, 2006b). The aim of the present study is to corroborate the latent…

The challenge inherent in cross-national research of providing instruments in different languages measuring the same construct is well known. But even instruments in a single language may be biased towards certain countries or regions due to local linguistic specificities. Consequently, it may be appropriate to use different versions of an…

Performed a baseline assessment of the new curriculum standards of mathematics for elementary education in Flanders, studying the achievement of 5,763 sixth graders. Overall, the more innovative curriculum standards were less likely to be well mastered. Few gender differences in performance were observed. (SLD)

Studied the development of early numeracy in 207 5- to 7-year-old Flemish children compared with 299 Dutch peers. Results suggest that the Early Numeracy Test (J. van Luit and others, 1994) is moderately reliable and has construct validity. Flemish children lagged at the first assessment but caught up by the third in the middle of the first year…