The validity of logistic test models and computer simulation methods for generating sampling distributions of item bias statistics was evaluated under the hypothesis of no item bias. Test data from 937 ninth-grade students were used to develop 7 steps for applying computer-simulated baseline statistics in test development. (SLD)

The present study tried to find out whether Saudi history textbooks for grades 4-12 contain global themes, in which grade levels global themes are introduced, the percentage of global themes, local history themes and Islamic history themes, and which global history themes are taught. A checklist of global history themes was developed. Those are:…

The purpose of the study was to identify and compare the learning style preferences of low-achieving and high-achieving young African-American males. Measures of perceptual preferences for 22 learning modalities were obtained from a sample of 50 ninth- and tenth-grade students. Half of the students were randomly selected from a pool identified as…

A new test theory for performance-based assessment is proposed. Criteria for "good" performance-based items, ways of measuring cognitive complexity, methods for determining maturity levels of understanding, and scaling systems are discussed. A performance-based task completed by 51 ninth and tenth graders in June 1993 was studied.…

Increased interest in interdisciplinary instruction in secondary schools has led to the development of different models. At one school in the Shenandoah Valley (Virginia) three designs evolved when teams of teachers took on nontraditional, integrated instruction as a goal. In general, integrated curriculum designs in secondary schools match one of…

Descriptive data were collected from male and female students in grades 7, 9, and 11 on five learner attributes commonly reported as influencing student learning and/or motivation: desire for approval of others, attribution of success or failure, desire for challenge in academic settings, perceived self-competence in school settings, and locus of…

Investigated in this study were the influences of race, sex, and grade level on children's judgments of the acceptability of various intervention methods for dealing with two classroom problem behaviors: disturbing other students and destroying other students' property. In addition, the developmental applicability of the Children's Intervention…

This research compared the performance of ninth grade females and males on flight protocol, with particular attention to interpretation of the graphs of paths of falling bodies, rolling objects, and projectiles. These subjects were chosen because they had received no formal instruction in projectile motion, yet through typical life experience, had…

Four operational null hypotheses were assessed in a study of ninth graders placed in junior high schools (grades 7 through 9) or senior high schools (grades 9 through 12). The hypotheses state that there would be no significant differences in: (1) the mean number of extracurricular activities (EAs) in which ninth graders participated, whether in…

This investigation of the impact of an Individualized Audio-Tutorial (IAT) biology learning unit upon students in five ninth grade classrooms in an urban junior high school in Israel focused on the students' perceptions of their classroom learning environment, and their attitudes toward IAT and toward science and understanding the process of…

Results are presented of a study determining the effects of type of junior high school science program on science content achievement and science process achievement in the presence of reading achievement, mathematics achievement, and sex. Two groups of ninth-grade students (N=50) were randomly selected to participate in either an ISCS program or…

This study explored the importance of group interaction for learning. It investigated: (1) the relationship between group interaction and achievement, and whether this relationship was constant across ability levels; and (2) the importance of ability, extroversion-introversion, and group composition as predictors of group interaction. The sample…

A longitudinal study was initiated in the Tuscon Unified School District (TUSD) to follow the achievement of seventh and ninth grade Title I students: (1) to investigate the suitability and difficulty of the Total Reading Test of the Metropolitan Achievement Test (MAT) and the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS); (2) to compare the gains in…

A total of 572 randomly selected sixth-grade students and 908 randomly selected ninth-grade students from a large metropolitan school district in the Midwest were asked to complete a series of survey questions designed to measure the extent to which they were happy while at school, as well as questions concerning the extent to which they treated…

This paper reports on the classroom learning environment and teaching practices in a Papua New Guinea ninth-grade science class and the conflict between the informal, traditional learning paradigm and new school approaches to science teaching. Observations and interviews with teachers and four students were supplemented with questionnaires and…