A study investigated two questions regarding the validity of holistic writing evaluation: (1) How well do holistic scores predict sentence length, passage length, and spelling errors in grades 3, 6, and 9 narrative and explanatory writing? and (2) Which model best predicts these variables (across grades within type, or within grade within type)?…

Results of the 1985-86 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) survey of American students' knowledge of computers suggest that American schools have a long way to go before computers can be said to have made a significant impact. The survey covered the 3rd, 7th, and 11th grade levels and assessed competence in knowledge of computers,…

Multiple matrix sampling is a sampling design in which both test items and examinees are randomly sampled from their respective populations. This study was designed to develop and assess a method for computing an estimate of a correlation coefficient when a multiple matrix sampling design is used. The examinee populations included 212 third-grade…

Using a recursive network transition model for depicting stories to generate two stories of contrasting structure (successive episodes organized by topic and embedded episodes organized by failed and successful goals), a study examined the understanding of the structures by having children in the third through eleventh grades rate each story…

A study investigated children's and adults' abilities to derive inferences requiring the integration of two episodic premises (episodic inferences) and inferences requiring the integration of one episodic premise with extra-stimulus, semantic knowledge. Subjects, 95 kindergarten, third grade, seventh grade, and college students, watched either an…

A study was conducted to determine whether (1) readers would express an awareness of structural disruption in stories, (2) there were developmental differences in the extent to which readers were aware of structural disruption, and (3) there were developmental differences in the types of structural disruptions that disturbed readers. Fifty third…

The passage dependence of an item refers to the degree to which it is necessary to read the associated passage in order to be able to answer that item correctly. This paper studies the value of obtaining data about passage dependence in the construction of reading comprehension achievement tests. Passage dependence indices were examined in several…

This study is an attempt to determine if it is possible to establish causal direction between academic self-concept and academic achievement, focusing on whether academic self-concept and the subject-matter self-concepts of English and mathematics serve to generate academic, English, and mathematics achievements, respectively. This study of causal…

In order to analyze the effectiveness of school districts in Kentucky, a study looked at basic skill test scores in reading and language at two grade levels, 3rd and 10th. In order to take into account student differences between school districts, the percentage of students in the "below average" range on the Short Form Test of Academic…

A study was conducted to test the hypothesis that metaphorical thought develops according to the principles governing other categorizing processes. Of particular interest were the questions of whether preschool children possess the categorical flexibility to comprehend metaphorical statements and, if they do, whether this flexibility manifests…

This is a report on a study of racial interrelationships among students in desegregated schools. Sociometric measures of third graders' willingness to play and work with their classmates (indicating cross-race acceptance) showed evidence of racial bias; however, the amount of bias appeared small compared to the findings of earlier studies which…

Phase III of the Louisiana School Effectiveness Study (LSES-III) was designed in part to obtain rich, qualitative data on the characteristics of more and less effective schools in the Gulf South. Data were gathered on eight matched outlier pairs of schools during the 1984-1985 school year. Of the eight historically ineffective schools in LSES-III,…

The effects of school characteristics upon achievement test scores in New York State were studied. Data, composed of the 1975-76 Consolidated Data Base and Finance Tapes for all 705 school districts in the state, were supplied by the New York State Department of Education. Among the 24 variables of interest were: state pupil evaluation tests of…

Two studies involving 63 second through fourth graders and 43 ninth graders investigated the influence of gender, race, and friendship on social comparison choices. Implications of the results for social comparison theory and social policy and education practice are discussed. (TJH)

This study represents the first to empirically validate the structure of social self-concept (SC) as proposed by the Shavelson model. For each of three age groups--preadolescents (252 3rd graders), early adolescents (290 7th graders), and late adolescents (335 11th graders)--analyses of covariance structures were used to test: (1) that social SC…