Describes a study to diagnose grade 8 (n=185) and grade 10 (n=170) Israeli students' difficulties in causal thinking while studying biology. The two main difficulties found are (1) inability to organize events according to their correct temporal sequence and (2) inability to identify an event that had been caused by another event. (MDH)

This study examined possible predictors of feelings of alienation from school in elementary and middle school students who completed surveys in 1991. Results indicated that gender and school variables were the most consistent predictors of alienation. The study did not wholly support the theory that alienation is a steady developmental process.…

Explores the concepts of risk and resilience applied to eighth graders and suggests advantages in considering a definition of risk grounded in actual school performance and behavior rather than to various group-level probabilities of failure. Evidence shows the importance of family supports, school responsiveness to students, and student…

This study with 100 gifted Hispanic and Black eighth graders attending a summer enrichment program analyzed inventories, career plots, daily journal entries, interviews, and evaluations by staff for themes of adolescent development. Themes in the following change spheres were identified: biological maturation, learning process, social needs,…

Studied the amount of measurement error in a state's performance-based writing task as it relates to high-stakes decision reproducibility. Using 175 eighth-grade writing samples, the study finds moderate correlations between the two raters' scores, with significant differences for the rates for the handwritten, but not the typed, essays.(SLD)

The National Research Council (NRC) report on the disproportionate representation of minority students in special and gifted education represents an opportunity to draw national attention to the challenges faced by educators as they attempt to provide high-quality educational opportunities for students from culturally and linguistically diverse…

This study used a diagnostic testing approach to compare the mathematics achievement of eighth-grade students across a sample of 20 countries, analyzing data from the Third International Math and Science Study-Revised (TIMSS-R, 1999). Using the rule-space method, student mastery was measured on 23 specific content knowledge and processing…

The quest for perfection has been anecdotally associated with great achievement and despair; with adjustment and maladjustment. No population has more frequently been associated with perfectionism than the gifted. This study was designed to (i) identify the types of perfectionism observed in a sample of Australian school students, and (ii) to…

Over the last fifteen years, many states have implemented high-stakes tests as part of an effort to strengthen accountability for schools, teachers, and students. Predictably, there has been vigorous disagreement regarding the contributions of such policies to increasing test scores and, more importantly, to improving student learning. A recent…

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 calls for improving test scores of minority students in third through eighth grades, making middle level schools a key venue for closing the racial gap in achievement. This study, by analyzing data on the 15,000 eighth graders who took the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in mathematics,…

This article discusses the findings of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) that were conducted as a formative assessment for Project MYTRI (Mobilizing Youth for Tobacco Related Initiatives in India), a randomized, multicomponent, school-based trial to prevent and control tobacco use among youth in India. Forty-eight FGDs were conducted with students (N…

School bullying is often considered to be the fuel behind school violence. In a recent report by the Families and Work Institute, students reported that is was the small things, such as teasing, which often triggered serious episodes of violence. On the school campus, between 20 to 30% of the students report frequent involvement in bullying…

African American and European American 4th, 6th, and 8th graders rated the competence of rich and poor children in academics (i.e., math, science, reading, writing, school grades, smartness), sports, and music. In contrast to middle school students, 4th graders favored the rich in all 3 domains. Youth of both races reported that the rich were more…

This study explores differences in mathematics assessment results between American Indian students in Western New York and their Anglo peers. The sample consisted of 2,256 fourth grade students (Native = 323 Anglo = 1933) and 2,475 eighth grade students (Native = 353 Anglo = 2122). Scores from New York State's Fourth and Eighth Grade Math…

This investigation compared quantitative outcomes associated with class-wide peer tutoring using differentiated hands-on activities vs. teacher-directed instruction for students with mild disabilities in inclusive 8th-grade science classes. Thirteen classes of 213 students (109 males; 104 females), of whom 44 were classified with disabilities,…