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How After-School Programs Affect Student Experience

Positive youth development is more likely to occur when adolescents have opportunities to participate in activities that are intrinsically motivating, require substantial concentration, and can be engaged in over time. The combination of intrinsic motivation and concentration is rare overall, but is more common when youth are engaged in voluntary structured activities such as sports, arts, hobbies, and clubs.

With funding from the C.S. Mott Foundation, Deborah Vandell and colleagues study the out-of-school experiences of middle-school youth who attend 21st Century Community Learning Centers. They are contrasting the experiences of CLC youth with the experiences of comparison youth who do not attend CLCs. It is expected that youth who attend CLCs will spend more time engaged in voluntary structured activities than comparison youth and that CLC youth will report higher levels of intrinsic motivation and concentration than comparison youth.

For more information: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/projects/projects.php?project_num=3410&subnum=0&catID=17

The FAST Project: Building Relationships

Families and Schools Together (FAST) is a comprehensive, research-based approach to increasing academic achievement and decreasing juvenile delinquency. FAST brings families together at the school to increase bonding within the family, across families, with the schools, and with the community.

Studies of its effectiveness show a decrease in children's aggression and an increase in their attention span, which helps increase academic performance and reduce juvenile delinquency. FAST has been disseminated over the past 10 years to 38 states and 4 Indian Nations.

With funding from the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, FAST creator Lynn McDonald continues to replicate the FAST program nationwide.

For more information: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/projects/projects.php?project_num=2235&subnum=0&catID=16

Systemic Initiatives: Student Achievement Analysis Study

With funding from the National Science Foundation, Bill Clune and Norman Webb are studying the degree to which systemic reform contributes to improved student achievement and other outcomes. Project staff are using student assessment data, demographic data, and implementation information from a select group of systemic initiatives including statewide systemic initiatives, urban systemic initiatives, and rural systemic initiatives.

The project will produce a report describing the analytic framework they are developing, as well as a prototype analysis using data from two or more systemic initiatives to illustrate the process.

For more information: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/projects/projects.php?project_num=2327&subnum=0&catID=10

Cultivating the Transition from Arithmetic to Algebraic Reasoning

What can we learn about the development of middle school students' algebraic reasoning? With funding from the Interagency Education Research Initiative, Sharon Derry, Martha Alibali, and Eric Knuth are studying how to facilitate students' transition from concrete arithmetic reasoning to abstract algebraic reasoning. They also are developing professional development materials to help teachers foster the development of students' algebraic reasoning.

This research aims to develop sufficiently detailed accounts of learning and instruction in classroom contexts to guide the design and evaluation of instructional approaches and professional development programs aimed at facilitating the development of students' algebraic reasoning.

For more information: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/projects/projects.php?project_num=2330&subnum=0&catID=10

Supporting Math and Science Teachers

This research builds on five years of studies to identify the key challenges faced by K-12 schools (and districts) seeking to support mathematics and science teachers' growth in content knowledge, professional practice, and teaching for understanding. With funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Adam Gamoran is developing recommendations to help practitioners and policymakers decide what is necessary at the school and district level, in terms of support, resources, and restructuring, to support teachers' professional development and students' learning mathematics and science with understanding.

For more information: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/projects/projects.php?project_num=1936&subnum=0&catID=10

Statistics in the Middle Grades

Middle school students typically receive limited instruction in statistics. When they do receive it, instruction usually focuses on computational and procedural aspects (e.g., calculating means) at the expense of conceptual understanding (e.g., developing notions of representativeness when comparing data sets). Because of the increasingly central role of statistical reasoning in both work-related activities and in informed citizenship, more emphasis should be placed on teaching statistics in middle school. Research findings positively reflect students' capacities to engage in challenging statistical reasoning in the middle grades.
With funding from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Research and Improvement, Thomas Romberg and colleagues are building on five years of middle-school classroom design experiments, in which researchers and teachers collaborated to test and revise instructional sequences and computer software for students to learn statistical data analysis.

Using the instructional resources built to coincide with students' mathematical learning, the researchers are engaging teachers in investigations of students' learning of statistics and seeking to determine if the instructional resources and software can serve as a primary support for teachers' professional development.

For more information: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/projects/projects.php?project_num=1931&subnum=0&catID=10

How a Standards-Based Program Effects Student Performance

Thomas Romberg and staff have conducted a longitudinal/cross-sectional study of the impact on students' mathematical performance of their NSF-supported middle-school program, Mathematics in Context. The current work, funded by the National Science Foundation, has two aims: 1) to provide the NSF with an example of ways to examine the impact of standards-based programs; and 2) to provide national and state policymakers and legislators with a substantial description of the impact of this program on student performance in mathematics.

For more information: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/projects/projects.php?project_num=2328&subnum=0&catID=10

Classroom Assessment as a Basis of Teacher Change

This project is based on previous WCER research, which showed that formative assessment can play a significant role in teaching that promotes learning with understanding. Classroom formative assessment is less common than traditional forms of assessment, such as grades and standardized tests. Yet classroom formative assessment can support day-to-day instruction and the critical processes of professional development that seeks to bring about fundamental changes in teachers' instruction. This research is directed by Thomas Romberg and is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement.

For more information: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/projects/projects.php?project_num=1928&subnum=0&catID=10

Diversity in Mathematics Education

The nation's increasingly diverse K-12 student population makes it increasingly important to rebuild the infrastructure for providing mathematics instruction. With funding from the National Science Foundation, a new WCER-based research consortium is working to develop and enhance the mathematics instructional workforce from kindergarten through graduate school.

Directed by Walter Secada and Thomas P. Carpenter, the Diversity in Mathematics Education Center consists of three interrelated components: a doctoral/postdoctoral component, a professional development component for teachers and instructional leaders, and a teacher education component for preservice teachers.

The research consortium includes the Madison Metropolitan School District, the University of California at Berkeley, the Berkeley Unified School District, the University of California at Los Angeles, and the California Subject Matter Project.

For more information: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/projects/projects.php?project_num=2331&subnum=0&catID=10

Study of the Impact of Statewide Systemic Initiatives

Norman Webb and colleagues are evaluating the effectiveness of the National Science Foundation's Statewide Systemic Initiatives on student learning, curriculum, and policy. With funding from the NSF's Systemic Educational Reform Program researchers are examining a wide range of information, from national data such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress to data collected from local districts and schools.

For more information: http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/projects/projects.php?project_num=2323&subnum=0&catID=10