This study explored teachers' behavior as related to effective teaching practices in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade English classrooms in Jordan. The study also examined some variables that could predict teachers' implementation of effective teaching practices and aimed at finding an estimate of the percentage of students in 8th, 9th, and 10th grades…

This paper is based on a reexamination of data from implementation in 1993-94 of the "Connections" program, a voluntary interdisciplinary program option for ninth-grade students in Cedar City (Ohio). Data gathered from the four teachers (representing English, Physical Science, World History, and Learning Disabilities) and 80 students (including 10…

A study was designed to test the hypothesis that a descriptive-type learning cycle was insufficient to stimulate students to reason at a reflective level or to develop an understanding of, and facility with, the processes of scientific investigation. In order to test the hypothesis, four classes of ninth-grade physical science students (n=100)…

This investigation examined students attending U.S. and Canadian visual and performing arts secondary schools for distinguishing personality characteristics, locus of control, acceptance of talents, labeling, family dynamics, anxiety levels, perceived personal and school problems, and views of peers, artists/teachers, and counselors. One hundred…

Insights into successful collaborative writing interactions were derived from an analysis of the discourse of three ninth-grade coauthoring triads (groups of three students)--a model group, a typical group, and a problem group. The writing task was an argumentative essay. Students received instruction in collaborative writing through teacher…

The administration of the High School Proficiency Test (HSPT) in the Trenton (New Jersey) School District and the impact of a voluntary summer tutorial program on HSPT scores were examined. New Jersey requires that all ninth graders take the HSPT, and that all school districts achieve a 75 percent passing rate to become state-certified. The same…

Scotland has a system of national surveys of achievement intended to provide information for educational policy and practice. Testing of middle school students in the areas of mathematics, reading, English, and science, is designed to provide national information as opposed to information about individual pupils, schools or local authorities. This…

This study investigated the effects on the performance of different age group students of: (1) method of task presentation; (2) format of test questionnaire; and (3) the numerical content of the tasks. The sample consisted of 556 students from grades 7, 9 and 12. The tasks, used for assessing reasoning skills, were taken from the Video-Taped Group…

The psychological dimensions hypothesized to describe common instructional treatments and materials, and the relevant psychological characteristics assumed to describe students are discussed in their relationship to studies of aptitude-treatment interaction (ATI). The Annehurst Curriculum Classification System is described as a practical model…

This study assessed the prevalence of date violence and rape among adolescents in order to examine the associations between date violence and rape, and eating disorders and psychopathology. The study also attempted to determine if these associations remained significant after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. A Minnesota…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of learning strategy and summarization within a computer-based chemistry and physics program. High school students worked individually or in cooperative dyads to complete science instruction; half of them completed summaries over the instructional content when directed to do so. The study…

Longitudinal data in St. Paul (Minnesota) for 1,001 ninth graders and 962 of them as tenth graders show that part-time work experience and mastery orientation are reciprocally related for adolescents. Youth more internally oriented in grade 9 had less stressful jobs in grade 10. Extrinsic work conditions are sources of control orientation. (SLD)

The cognitive structure of an algebra test was defined and validated using the linear test model (LLTM) and quadratic assignment (QA) techniques. The LLTM is an extension of the Rasch model with a linear constraint that describes item difficulty in terms of the cognitive operations required to solve the item. The model permits the specification of…

Studies of school effectiveness have sometimes been criticized for placing too great an emphasis on a limited range of achievement measures as indicators of school quality. This paper draws on a study of secondary schools in Australia to explore the extent to which achievement growth, attitudes toward school, and school holding power are…

The primary objective of a pilot study was to investigate the educational motivation of rural native Appalachian eighth grade females in terms of educational attitudes, educational decisions, and educational self-concept. Results from the study (sample size: 27) indicate strongly that female Appalachian adolescents, about to enter womanhood, do…