Given the frequency with which teachers use self-developed tests to evaluate students, and given the paucity of requirements related to developing measurement competencies, some educators and measurement specialists question the adequacy of teachers' training in and knowledge of measurement principles. This study assesses teachers' measurement…

Internal structure and external validity of 39 multiple-choice visual arts achievement test items were examined. These items were developed to assess grade 3 visual arts achievement for a statewide model of a fine arts curriculum. Item responses were evaluated in terms of: (1) fit to the one-parameter Rasch measurement model; (2) item-total…

The Upper Arlington, Ohio school reorganization, in 1983, to include a middle school resulted in the development of a seventh-grade foreign language exploration course. The course provides nine weeks each of French, German, and Spanish, and relates the languages to content areas using an interdisciplinary approach. The fourth nine weeks would be…

The use of a generative and evaluative computerized prompting framework to improve the teaching of writing skills was studied with 164 children in grades 6, 7, and 8 with high or low writing skills, who were randomly assigned to control or treatment groups. The treatment group received computer prompts, think sheet scaffolds, and expert modeling…

Recent trends in achievement test scores among elementary and secondary school students in Iowa are examined. Form 7 of the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) was used to measure the achievement of students in grades 3 and 7; and Form X-7 of the Iowa Tests of Educational Development (ITED) was used for 11th graders. These grade levels were chosen…

Characteristics related to help-seeking (perceived competence, motivational orientation, attitudes and beliefs, and age) were examined for 177 children in grades 3, 5, and 7. By grade seven, positive and negative attitudes were influential. Developmental and individual difference factors are discussed in connection with help-seeking and academic…

Changes in students' (N=313) present and possible "good student" selves over the transition from elementary school to middle school are examined by this study. Findings indicate that both present and possible selves decline over the transition, and that the decline is greater for males than for females. Holding mastery goals is related to…

Change over time in the cross-achievement level regard of seventh-grade students for teammates in small heterogeneous cooperative learning groups was studied for 184 middle school students (55 percent Hispanic Americans, 27 percent Whites, 14 percent Blacks, and 3 percent Asian Americans) in Los Angeles County (California). Student perceptions…

The study focuses on the gendering of Australian school students through their participation in school. Specifically grades 7, 8 and 10 were studied. The initial group of 112 middle class students was studied by an ethnographic investigation of schooling practice in four classes of senior elementary school students for one year. Fifty-two students…

The efforts of Cleveland's intermediate level mathematics teachers to change their curriculum from computation to a dual emphasis on application and computation are described. This paper reports on the second year of a project to enhance mathematics instruction. A natural history ethnography was conducted, which focused on the work of seven…

Students' motivation was studied within specific academic content areas using a goal theory framework. The relationships between motivational orientation and cognitive processes within and across content areas are also considered. Six-hundred sixth and seventh graders, approximately 90% white, from two suburban middle schools participated.…

This study investigated the impact of a sequence of social relationship activities on regard for classmates and teammates in middle school (grade 7) mathematics classes using cooperative learning. The sample consisted of 184 students (55% Hispanic American, 27% White, 14% Black, and 3% Asian American) in a city in Los Angeles County (California).…

As part of an educational reform in the Netherlands, teachers were required to implement models of adaptive instruction, including group-based mastery learning. It was expected that mastery learning would raise achievement and reduce differences in achievement among children of different social classes and between girls and boys. In 1987, students…

In fall 1993, administrators and faculty at the Crabappple Middle School in Roswell, Georgia, implemented the Multi-Age Team (MAT) program, creating multi-age teams of sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students. The projects' main goal was to enhance self-esteem. Additional goals included implementation of interdisciplinary, thematic instruction;…

A 5-year federally funded substance abuse prevention program targeted 426 high risk middle-school youth from 4 school districts in Nassau County, New York. Combining a child-centered model with a systemic approach, the program's goal was to prevent or delay the onset of alcohol and other drug use. High-risk youth were identified by school…