Date of Award

1992

Type

Thesis

Major

Specialist in Education

Degree Type

Special Degree in Education

Department

Teacher Education

First Advisor

Dr. Mary M. Lindquist

Second Advisor

Dr. James M. Brewbaker

Third Advisor

Dr. Carolyn M. Cartledge

Abstract

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Interpretative Team for the Fourth Mathematics Assessment of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) (Silver, Lindquist, Carpenter, Brown, Kouba, and Swafford, 1988) reports that performance levels for thirteen year-olds has not changed between the last two assessments. At the same time seventeen year-olds have made significant gains (Silver et al., 1988). The Interpretative Team cautions that the seventeen year-old population which made gains was the population that showed gains as thirteen year-olds. Thus, any attribution of these gains to educational reforms at the secondary level should be made with caution (Silver et al., 1988).

The Interpretative Team reports that there were no gender related differences among thirteen year-olds, but among seventeen year-olds, there were small but significant differences. Also, the gap between Caucasian students and other groups (Hispanics and African-Americans) is narrowing, but the differences in performance are still significant at the two age levels.

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