The aim of the research described in this article was the development of an instrument to measure social emotional characteristics and special educational and pedagogical needs of students in the last grade of primary education. Questionnaires were developed for teachers as well as for students. Exploratory factor analyses showed that the factors…

A longitudinal research project studied the development of the reading ability of Dutch primary school students and its consequences for their school career in secondary education. Data were gathered on 310 students from 24 Dutch primary schools over a period of 8 years. A longitudinal reading model (with decoding, reading comprehension, and…

Several models for optimizing incomplete sample designs with respect to information on the item parameters are presented. The following cases are considered: (1) known ability parameters; (2) unknown ability parameters; (3) item sets with multiple ability scales; and (4) response models with multiple item parameters. The models are able to cope…

Students' perceptions of constraints on asking questions during mathematics classes were explored with 20 third and 26 fifth graders in Dutch classrooms. Conditions examined included help by teachers or peers and instructional or seatwork situations. No sex differences or grade differences were found. (TJH)

Discusses a study of students' personality judgments of adults presented as teachers. Reports that judgments were factually structured and influenced by (1) the role played by the adults, and (2) the children's ages. Finds that younger children produced more positive judgments with dominant traits being described more positively. Concludes that…

In this study, 590 third graders from 12 Dutch schools took 32 tests indicating 16 semantic Structure-of-Intellect (SI) abilities and 1 of 4 reading comprehension tests, involving either multiple-choice or open-ended items. Results indicate that item type for reading comprehension is congeneric with respect to SI abilities measured. (TJH)

This paper investigates the accessibility and attractiveness of different types of ICT applications in education for girls and boys and for pupils from families with an ethnic minority background and from the majority population in the Netherlands. A study was conducted in seven schools (primary and secondary). Data were collected on…

We describe two experiments on signaling and detecting uncertainty in audiovisual speech by adults and children. In the first study, utterances from adult speakers and child speakers (aged 7-8) were elicited and annotated with a set of six audiovisual features. It was found that when adult speakers were uncertain they were more likely to produce…

"Learning Together in Multicultural Groups" (Dutch acronym, SLIM) is a Dutch version of the Complex Instruction project at Stanford University (California). An evaluation was conducted of the implementation of classroom processes and teacher guidance as specified in the Complex Instruction Method, using a case study approach where…

This study examined linguistic interdependence in 98 bilingual Turkish/Dutch children of Turkish background living in the Netherlands since birth, to determine whether language and literacy skills can be transferred from 1 language. The results indicated that, although the transference of lexicon and syntax skills was limited, pragmatic,…

Examines gender and familial role attitudes of 142 male and 123 female adolescent international students in the Netherlands using the Attitudes Toward Women Scale for Adolescents and Historic-Sociocultural Premises Scale. Females respond less traditionally than males, and students from less wealthy, more collectivist countries have more…

This paper describes a limited longitudinal study of young children's early numeracy development within three testing cycles, at the mid-point and towards the end of their reception year (at five years-of-age) and again at the mid-point of Year 1 (at six years-of-age), located within the broader context of progress through to Key Stage 1 SAT…

In 1989, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development approved a 3-year international project to identify programs that have been effective in helping children at risk of educational failure. A conference held to launch the project identified program strategies for serving at-risk youth, determined ways for member countries to improve…

Eight language curricula that are widely used in the Netherlands for children up to grade 8 were evaluated. Questions examined were: (1) whether the use of a particular curriculum results in greater achievement in specific language areas; (2) what differences and similarities exist among these curricula; (3) do differences exist in the ways in…

Investigated whether children's syllabification of Dutch disyllabic words with a single intervocalic consonant adhered to the universal principles of syllable structure and whether these syllabifications witnessed an overruling of the universal phonological constraints by language-specific ones. Results indicate that universal principles explain…