Data from the 1988 Phi Delta Kappa National Research Study on at-risk students were used in an analysis of variables associated with being classified as "at risk." The study collected information on over 22,000 at-risk and not-at-risk students from 274 schools and 9,600 teachers from across the United States. This analysis identified…

The influence of day-to-day variation in teacher performance on the reliability and validity of teacher assessment was examined. An attempt was made to identify and quantify sources of score variation attributable to differences in teacher performance, day of observation, observers, and test subscales; and to determine their effects on reliability…

This study examined the effects of a year-long word processing program on learners' holistic writing skills. Based on results of a writing pretest, 80 seventh grade students were designated as relatively high or low in prior writing achievement and assigned to one of two groups: a word processing treatment and a conventional writing process…

When students make the transition from elementary school to junior high school, they experience abrupt organizational changes in their school environment. The hypothesis that social comparison processes mediate the relation between ability grouping practices in mathematics and students' achievement expectancies was tested in a longitudinal sample…

To determine whether emphasizing on basic skills in subject matter courses is an effective approach to improving junior high students' achievement in reading and language arts, 389 students and 16 teachers were assigned to either an experimental treatment group consisting of a health curriculum restructured to use a reading/language format or a…

This study attempts to determine the extent to which performance on educational tests is dependent upon language proficiency. Three questions are involved: (1) Will the dictation and the cloze tests prove to be as successful in distinguishing degrees of proficiency among native speakers as among second language learners? (2) How well will scores…

A year-long study of the writing growth of eight seventh grade children was conducted to determine whether knowledge of reading rhetoric could be directly applied to personal writing behavior. It was assumed that active comprehension of a distinctive literary model would provide awareness of the structure of narrative prose and improve the…

Two chi square techniques were applied to identify culturally biased items on the Reading Vocabulary and Reading Comprehension sections of the California Achievement Tests. Subjects were 1,035 Mexican Americans and 2,474 Anglo Americans in grade 7. Eight items appeared biased against Mexican Americans, but not Anglo Americans; seven occurred in…

Two classes, each comprised of seventh and eighth grade students, are used to test the hypothesis that student participation in observing and solving real-life environmental problems increases positive changes in their attitudes toward school. Two methods of teaching urban environmental studies are used: an experimental community action approach…

Equal status within the contact situation, shared goals, cooperate dependence in reaching these goals, and the support of authorities, law or custom are the criteria which Allport (1954) argued were vital for promoting positive interracial attitudes and behavior. The study reported here investigates the development of interracial interaction…

Parent and student surveys were conducted in nine primarily rural West Virginia counties to gather baseline information on incoming seventh-grade students' and parents' awareness of and aspirations for postsecondary education. The surveys are administered each year as part of Fairmont State College's GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness…

This study looked at the effect of contextual advisement and competition on transfer of mathematics skills in a computer-based instructional simulation game and simulation in which game participants helped their "aunt and uncle" fix up a house. Competition referred to whether or not the participant was playing against a computer…

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:…

Middle school prealgebra students (n=157) learned about functions in a 20-day unit that emphasized: (1) representing problems in multiple formats, (2) anchoring learning in a meaningful thematic context, and (3) discussing problem-solving processes in cooperative groups. They produced smaller pretest-to-posttest gains on symbol manipulation tasks,…

A study examined three examples of classroom reading conferences. Subjects (students and teachers) were in grades 4, 7, and 12. Conversations between the teachers and their students serve to illustrate the different learning environments in each classroom. Results indicated that all three teachers wanted to: (1) provide students an opportunity to…