The purpose of Chapter two is to review literature related to the major variables within the study. Two literature reviews were conducted. The first literature review examined the retention rates and low standardized test scores on Students taking Middle School Math. This follows the purpose of the conceptual framework, the Keller’s ARCS model(1987). Here, there will be literature related to inform the study that is related to the research design, intervention design, and measurement instruments. Lastly there will be a section on the Conceptual Framework. Retention of Middle School Mathematical Students President Barack Obama (2008) started his term by saying The agenda starts with education. Whether you’re conservative or liberal, Republican or Democratic, practically every economist agrees that in this digital age, a highly educated and skilled workforce will be the key to not only individual opportunity, but to the overall success of our economy as well. We cannot be satisfied until every child in America-and I mean every child- has the same chances for a good education that we want for our own children. With this promise came serious concerns over education taught students ranked 28th in the United States out of 40 other countries in Mathematics and Sciences. 80% of occupations depend on knowledge of Mathematics and Science (Week and Obama 2009). In order to ensure that educators have enough money to fund the endeavor to be more competitive with the rest of the world in Mathematics and Science, President Obama will increase federal spending in education with an additional 18 billion dollars in k-12 classrooms, guaranteeing educators have the teachers, technology, and professional development to attain highly quali... ... middle of paper ... ...atics in six countries, Mathematics Teaching in the 21st Century, Center for Research in Mathematics and Science Education, Michigan State University. Silver, E. A. (1998). Improving Mathematics in Middle School: Lessons from TIMSS and Related Research, US Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328. Singh, K., M. Granville, et al. (2002). "Mathematics and science achievement: effects of motivation, interest, and academic engagement." The Journal of Educational Research 95(6): 323-332. Stroup, A. L. and L. N. Robins (1972). "Elementary school predictors of high school dropout among black males." Sociology of Education 45(2): 212-222. Washington, W. M., B. C. Barish, et al. (2006). "National Science Board." Week, E. and B. Obama (2009). The Obama Education Plan: An Education Week Guide, Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.
The first issue that has been identified as a significant problem involved in the Achievement gap, is that it is partially the fault of America's educational system. Because of the suffering economy that has spurred the increasing lack of basic necessities in schools across America, there are an increasing number of children who are not being properly educated. Whether it is a deficiency in supplies, poor teacher selection, or administration and staff who are indifferent to the students at their sch...
Whenever learning about this project for SMED 310, I wanted to pick out a learner who I knew had a low self-concept and low self-efficacy in their mathematics ability. After thinking back over the years, I remembered a friend I had in high school who had struggled with their math courses. Matthew Embry, a freshman at Western Kentucky University, is looking to major in Sports Management. Whenever I was a senior in high school, we played on the same sports team. Throughout my senior year, I helped him with his Algebra 1 class. When I would help him after a practice, I could tell he struggled with the material. As a mathematics major, I have taken numerous math courses. By teaching him a lesson dealing with football, Matthew was able
8.) Smith, Chelsea. “pros and Cons of the No Child Left Behind Act.” (2005) < http://
Ryan, Julia. "American Schools vs. the World: Expensive, Unequal, Bad at Math." www.theAtlantic.com. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 23 Dec. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. .
The literature review research and articles ranged in dates from 1995 to 2013. These articles are composed of over 50 studies, with the results being compared and evaluated over a vast time. The researchers examined the students’ permanent school records, documented the students’ gender, socioeconomic status, grade retained or intervened, teacher assigned grades, reading and mathematics, and the students’ standardized test scores (Rust & Wallace, 1993). Grade appropriate standardized test...
Current interests in reducing high dropout rates and closing the achievement gap across many United States high schools have resulted in a major education reform. According to Durden (2008), with the passing of the No Child Left Behind legislation in 2002, national officials authorized the Comprehensive School Reform program to support low performing schools as they struggled to improve student achievement. As a result, a wide range of approaches have been considered to help solve this nation-wide concern. Durden (2008) discussed as a result of this national effort, an increase in implementation of comprehensive school reforms is occurring in schools serving predominantly diverse student populations in urban areas. Kemple et al., (2006) stated that while many different targeted programs and comprehensive reform strategies have been proposed as strategies to counter these problems, small learning communities (SLCs) or freshman academies have been incorporated. . Freshman academies or small learning communities (SLCs) are defined as small self-contained groups of students who take classes together from interdisciplinary teacher teams. (SLCs) have emerged as among the most common and potentially effective response. With the incorporation of small learning communities (SLCs) or freshman academies, there are other areas of importance needing change in addressing the problems of high dropout rates and the achievement gap. Important areas in need of change includes how we assess our students, preparation of America’s teachers, and development of appropriate curricular materials, policies, and practices for diverse students.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said:“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” Mr. Roosevelt was indicating that education is key to ensuring a positive future for our country. Years have passed since his presidency, and many can argue that America’s educational system has improved, but that still remains to be seen. While it is true that education has gotten more focus in recent years, as highlighted by the “No Child Left Behind Act,” it does not mean that the system is fully developed enough to aid all of America’s children. Now, the average American is just that: average. Children generally receive B’s and C’s, average grades, in school if they are lucky enough to be in a good school system. Literacy rates are lower than they seem, and not enough people are properly motivated to do well in school. Forms of entertainment and parental influence, which also play a large role in the development of children into successful, productive adults, are not where they should be with respects to education. Much more needs to be done to improve the educational system of the entire country. Preschool should be made mandatory to help individuals reach their full potential and achieve what only a minority of today’s society is currently capable of.
Also while United state’s eighth-graders already rank lower in math than students in five other “the results of a report issued by trends in international Mathematics and Science study (TIMSS) reveal that US eighth-graders ranked lower in math than students in five other countries, whi...
...ris, A. (2004) School engagement: potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59-109. doi: 10.3102/00346543074001059
Jiang Zhonghong (1995)A Brief Comparison of the U.S. and Chinese Middle School Mathematics Programs. School Science and Mathematics v95 n4 p187-94
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) has developed detailed academic standards to direct learning goals for K-12 students. This paper will address the importance of having standards included in mathematics and how these standards can improve mathematics instruction in the classroom. This paper will also examine traditional mathematics programs versus constructivist-type programs and discuss how they address these standards and address limitations of both types of programs. In addition, this paper will also summarizes the author’s observations of a 8th grade math classroom and discuss the following observed in the classroom: (a) objectives and standards used in the lesson; (b) differentiated instruction and methods used by the teacher during the lesson; (c) the use of technology during the lesson; (d) manipulative objects, supplies and handouts used by the students; (e) identify the types of assessments utilized by the teacher during the lesson; and finally, (f) the author will explain if any changes could be made to the lesson.
Academic self-efficacy in mathematics was also assessed using five items from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ; Pintrich & De Groot, 1990). Because the research question sought to determine whether participating in the camp improved students with lower mathematics self-efficacy, those students with subscale scores that exceeded the mean of
Literacy is critically important to student success in mathematics. According to researchers, “mathematics is the most difficult content area material to read because there are more concepts per word, per sentence, and per paragraph than any other subject” (as cited in Braselton and Decker, 1994). Monroe addressed the issue of literacy in mathematics as not being simply computational arithmetic, but rather mathematics as a way thinking and communicating to solve problems (1996). Active mathematical literacy has a strong connection to real life; it’s more than just memorizing the facts, it is math connected to real life with a meaning and a purpose (Monroe, 1996). “When mathematical concepts are segregated from the language contexts in which they naturally occur, learning disabilities are likely to result” (Monroe, 1996 p. 2). She further explained, when students talk about what they are learning they clarify their thinking and construct personal meaning for their learning. “The cognitive abilities to learn both [a] language and mathematics are developmentally acquired. Research evidence tells us that these abilities can be nurtured, but they
Sherley, B., Clark, M. & Higgins, J. (2008) School readiness: what do teachers expect of children in mathematics on school entry?, in Goos, M., Brown, R. & Makar, K. (eds.) Mathematics education research: navigating: proceedings of the 31st annual conference of the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australia, Brisbane, Qld: MERGA INC., pp.461-465.
...S. and Stepelman, J. (2010). Teaching Secondary Mathematics: Techniques and Enrichment Units. 8th Ed. Merrill Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, NJ.