This report provides selected results from the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for Texas' public-school students at grades 4 and 8. Since 1992, reading has been assessed in four different years at the state level (at grade 4 in 1992 and 1994, and at both grades 4 and 8 in 1998 and 2002). Texas participated in all of these…

This year the Center on Education Policy analyzed data on the achievement of different groups of students in two distinct ways. First, it looked at grade 4 test results to determine whether the performance of various groups improved at three achievement levels--basic and above, proficient and above, and advanced. Second, it looked at gaps between…

A study focused on 41 eighth-grade students from a south Texas middle school who read self-selected books for 30-minute periods 5 times weekly from October 1996 to May 1997 to determine if increased reading time and book self-selection would improve their reading achievement. The study also sought to determine the students' attitudes towards…

The Technology Immersion Pilot (TIP), created by the Texas Legislature in 2003, set forth a vision for technology immersion in public schools. Senate Bill 396 called for the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to establish a pilot project to "immerse" schools in technology by providing a wireless mobile computing device for each teacher and…

This report presents results for the first trial school-district-level science assessment in NAEP at grades 4 and 8. Ten urban public-school districts voluntarily participated: Atlanta City, Austin Independent School District, Boston School District, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, City of Chicago School District 299, Cleveland City School…

Whether there were differences in motivational and learning environment perceptions of students selected based on their performance on the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills (TAAS) was studied over 3 years in a public school district in Texas. The degree to which affective elements of student behavior varied according to their success on this…

Little prior research exists on the achievement motivation of Mexican American students. In a rural south Texas junior high school, 120 eighth-grade students completed the 1969 Achieving Tendency Scales and demographic and socioeconomic questionnaires. Subjects were equally divided among four groups: Mexican American males and females and Anglo…

Approximately 20,000 eighth-and eleventh-grade students in Texas were tested on nine career education objectives; (1) career planning and decision making; (2) occupational information; (3) job acquisition and retention; (4) work attitudes; (5) human relations skills; (6) self evaluation; (7) personal responsibilities; (8) economic factors; and (9)…

The study investigated whether significant differences resulted from a bilingual-bicultural reading program as compared to the results of a traditional monolingual reading program. During the third spring semester of a four year bilingual project, 86 third, 84 fifth, and 96 eighth grade bilingual Mexican American students from the same South Texas…

The guide is arranged in vertical columns relating curriculum concepts in earth science to curriculum performance objectives, career concepts and career performance objectives, suggested teaching methods, and resource materials. The course for eighth graders attempts to place the curriculum concepts in order of increasing difficulty. Occupational…

Reported is a 1964 conference devoted to the problem of the low achiever in mathematics. Part I of the document presents five position papers concerned with motivation, Piaget's views on children's intellectual development, inplications of psychological research, the responsibility of school administrators, and business and industry cooperation…

The purpose of the study was to gain empirical knowledge about the relationships between personality traits, level of acculturation, and achievement among Mexican American children as a base to determine appropriate strategies to improve school adjustment. Ninety Mexican American 8th-graders in San Antonio were assessed. Among the measurement…

In 1990, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) included a Trial State Assessment (TSA); for the first time in the NAEP's history, voluntary state-by-state assessments were made. The sample was designed to represent the 8th grade public school population in a state or territory. In 1996, 44 states, the District of Columbia, Guam,…

This occupational investigation guide contains learning activities for instruction in economic and societal factors. Activities included in the guide focus on areas such as (1) locating employment sources, (2) locating salaries in classified ads, (3) selecting suitable jobs, (4) learning about the services of the Texas employment commission, (5)…

A South Texas survey conducted in 1975 investigated the reading performance of Mexican American students enrolled in a bilingual program to determine whether or not students achieved significantly different reading scores on parallel Spanish and English versions of an appropriate test (Guidance Testing Associates Inter-American Test of Reading).…