Noting that few would dispute the essential role of motivation in promoting academic engagement and achievement, this book serves as a guide to motivating students in grades K-3. The book presents research-based strategies and techniques that are then illustrated in three extended case studies of highly successful motivators, demonstrating how…

Recently, a number of evaluations of private school voucher programs in the United States have reported achievement gains for voucher users, especially African Americans. These studies tend to be structured as Randomized Field Trials (RFTs), where participants are assigned to treatment (offered a voucher) and control (not offered a voucher) groups…

Establishing a solid standards-and-assessment system is only the first step toward the ultimate goal of bringing all students to the standards. But without this first step, all others will fall short. The paper explains the essential role of standards and assessments in improving student achievement and offers solutions to challenges districts…

This study videotaped 58 university students in coeducational volleyball classes to determine what happens in physical education classes to improve student achievement. Results show that physical education teachers must increase the number and quality of learning trials to enhance motor skill proficiency.(SM)

The efficiency of oral error correction was investigated as a function of 35 Dutch-speaking high school seniors' individual characteristics of aptitude, motivation, anxiety, and previous achievement. Results were mixed but generally suggest that error correction does not lead to across-the-board improvement of achievement. (Contains 55…

Investigates the relative contribution of computer simulations and case studies for improving undergraduate students' self-efficacy in strategic management courses. Results of pre-and post-test data, regression analysis, and analysis of variance show that simulations result in significantly higher improvement in self-efficacy than case studies.…

The aim of this study was to explore preservice classroom teacher reflection in a physical education teaching and learning environment and to describe how the teachers' reflections related to their practices. Two preservice classroom teachers voluntarily participated in the study. Data were collected using observations, journals, documents, and…

A behavior modification program designed to increase the rate of mathematics homework completion by a learning-disabled student is reported. The 9-year-old subject habitually failed to complete daily math homework assignments and had not responded to a classroom behavior modification program. The subject and teacher created a 3-week contract and…

To learn more about the relationship between personality type and the writing skills of college freshmen composition students, a study was conducted to explore the hypothesis that essays written by students who were N (intuitive) preference types would be judged better in overall quality than those written by S (sensing) preference types.…

A study investigated whether teachers who receive training and then implement more effective instructional practices change in the reasons they offer for their effectiveness. Comparisons were made between 46 intermediate and high school teachers in a large urban school system who were trained in and implemented mastery learning techniques, and 50…

A longitudinal investigation was conducted on the development of conservation skills in learning disabled (LD) children. During each of 3 years, six measures of conservation from the Concept Assessment Kit (space, number, substance, weight, continuous quantity, and discontinuous quantity) were administered to 31 newly identified LD students and 33…

Schools typically place a high value on the dominant middle-class approach to becoming literate: they expect all children to arrive at school familiar with books and able to discuss stories. However, community use of printed materials varies, resulting in a large number of nonmainstream children deemed at risk for school failure at an early age.…

In response to the increased movement toward competency-based education, a large urban southeastern school system implemented a Pupil Progression Policy in the 1980-81 school year. This paper reports on the results of a 5-year longitudinal study of the policy's effect on the academic achievement of retained and promoted students who entered first…

The purpose of this study was to determine if a multidimensional treatment in the study of the content area of social studies would help the average and below average student. The 37 fifth-grade students in this study came from a middle-socioeconomic level of north central New Jersey. The 18 students in the experimental sample received special…

A study was conducted to determine the effect of language arts instruction that emphasized aesthetics on the attitude, self-concept, and IQ of primary school students. The subjects, 129 kindergarten through grade two students in a large urban school, were divided into an experimental and a control group. The experimental group received language…