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Literature in the United States provides many examples of no difference in student achievement when measured against the mode of test administration i.e., paper–pencil and online versions of the test. However, most of these researches centre on ‘regular’ students who do not require differential teaching methods or different evaluation processes and techniques. This research provides evidence that students who have learning disabilities, like their counterparts in the regular educational programme, do not lag behind in computer adaptation and use. The study, using differential item functioning analysis with an ‘external’ variable and an analysis of covariance, shows that items and tests can be created to have no practical differences in the mode of administration for this special group of students, and as such, is in keeping with the trend for using online testing with its many advantages (cost savings, flexibility in administration, etc.) in lieu of the paper and pencil version of the test. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In an era of a declining quality and quantity of students entering and persisting in mathematics in the USA, researchers and policy makers are looking for new strategies to engage students in these fields and improve mathematics outcomes. One push has been to make mathematics instruction more relevant with real-world applications throughout the K-12 curriculum-i.e. to make instruction more focused on real-life situations. This empirical study examines specifically whether real-life mathematics instruction can influence mathematics achievement for students at the beginning of the educational pipeline. Using a newly released national-level dataset of a cohort of US kindergarten students, approximately ages 5-6 years old, from the 2010/11 school year ( ECLS-K:2011), the findings indicate a positive relationship between the frequency of real-life mathematics instruction, as reported by the teacher and mathematics outcomes. The results are differentiated by student demographics, and implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Israeli and American research on IE was reviewed, indicating effect-sizes over a two-year intervention period on tests of crystallised intelligence and achievement of the order of three months of mental age (MA) only. A small-scale study (NE = 10; NC = 10) was set up in an ESN(M) school under optimum conditions to test the effect of IE on the additional parameters of Piagetian Operations and of Phase, the Feuerstein information-processing model. Effect sizes of 1.22σ on Operations, and 1.07σ on Phase were reported, together with 0.76σ on deficient cognitive functions as tested by Feuerstein's Learning Potential Assessment Device (LPAD). In MA terms, these sizes corresponded to 20 months differential gain on Operations over a 20 month period, and 12 months differential gain on Phase over a 12 month pre to post-test period. The gain on cognitive functions was accompanied by an increase in the zone of proximal development, as tested by LPA, of 1½ years. It was concluded that IE affects fluid intelligence initially, and that intervention studies were better tested on fresh learning embarked on after the intervention had ended than on standardised tests of achievement coterminous with the intervention. A strong plea was entered that the models underlying IE be absorbed into the public realm of intervention theory and curriculum development for remedial education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]