The issue of attracting more young people to choose careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has become critical for the United States. Recent studies by businesses, associations, and education have all agreed that the United States' performance in the STEM disciplines have placed the nation in grave risk of…

The study described in this report examined whether the use of "daily report cards" ("DRCs") in elementary school classrooms improved behavior and academic achievement among students diagnosed with combined inattentive and hyperactive/impulsive attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and comorbid oppositional defiant…

The author teaches a high school program called Commercial Foods which is designed to prepare students for careers in the food service industry. The majority of students are special needs youth who generally will not go on to postsecondary education, so her emphasis is placed on workforce development and life skills. Students have resource…

For more than 12 years, the Siemens Foundation has found unique ways to partner with organizations to support educational initiatives in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the United States. Its focus is clear--to educate the next generation of innovators by supporting math and science education from grade school to grad…

In this article, the author shares his experiences on a journey with 10-12-year-old students from Chicago's Cabrini Green neighborhood. The quintessential point he wants to make is that curriculum is not all about what state boards of education decide is important for teachers to do with children, or what a teacher decides to construct alone. It…

In randomized control trials, such as the one the authors conducted in Alabama, moderators are potentially an important source of variation in treatment effects. Whether moderators used in the RCT's analysis are pre-existing characteristics of students, their teachers, or the school or other organizational context, they can point toward…

State laws and regulations can either help or hinder the ability of school districts to hire effective teachers for STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. State officials wanting to tackle this critical problem need to begin with a thorough review of relevant policies, asking themselves: "Are we part of the problem, and…

The study investigated whether online professional development courses with different levels of support have different impacts on teacher outcomes. Variations of an online course for middle school algebra teachers were created for four experimental conditions. One was a highly supported condition, with a math education instructor, an online…

The Math and Science Partnership (MSP) program at the National Science Foundation (NSF) is a major national research and development effort that supports innovative partnerships among institutions of higher education (IHEs), local K-12 school systems, and their supporting partners in order to improve K-12 student achievement in mathematics and…

This is the second in a series of briefs summarizing findings from the newest and most rigorous research related to racial and socioeconomic diversity in public schools. The studies on which this brief is based were published recently in three special issues of the peer-reviewed journal, "Teachers College Record," edited by Professors…

The primary claim of this Harvard Program on Education Policy and Governance report and the abridged Education Next version is that nations "that pay teachers on their performance score higher on PISA tests." After statistically controlling for several variables, the author concludes that nations with some form of merit pay system have,…

Recent reforms in mathematics education have led to an increased emphasis on proof and reasoning in mathematics curricula. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics highlights the important role that teachers' knowledge and beliefs play in shaping students' understanding of mathematics, their confidence in and outlook on mathematics…

Teacher quality research and the study of teacher effects received renewed attention and emphasis with Sanders and Rivers' (1996) startling finding that teacher effects are both additive and cumulative, persisting up to an estimated two years after the student has left the teacher's classroom. Sanders and Rivers estimated that a student receiving…

The United States' education system needs to take its critical next step: fairly and accurately measuring teacher performance. Successful reforms to teacher pay, career advancement, professional development, retention, and other human capital systems that lead to better student outcomes depend on it. Where can the U.S. find the best-practice…

There is a dearth of literature that use research design for causal inference that estimate the effect of information and communications technology (ICT) programs on literacy outcomes in early primary, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. There are several programs that have used ICT at a large scale, including Los Angeles, Peru, Nicaragua, Rwanda…