The nutrition education needs of Maryland school children, teachers, and food service personnel (FSP) were assessed during the 1986-87 school year, as a follow-up to a 1979-80 study. Materials developed by the Educational Support Services Branch (ESSB) were reviewed; the Nutrition Assessment Inventory (NAI) was given to 750 students each from…

The initial phase of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) provided all 7th and 8th grade students and their teachers with laptop computers. In the fall of 2003, a survey of all teachers involved with the program was administered by Maine Education Policy Research Institute to determine how and to what extent the technology was being…

The goal of the Southern Regional Education Board's (SREB) Making Middle Grades Work initiative is to increase the percentage of eighth-graders who perform at the proficient level in core academic subjects and who leave eighth grade ready for college-prep work in high school. This document contains a comprehensive improvement framework to aid in…

Reports on misconceptions held by intermediate grade students concerning chemistry textbook concepts, on the relation of reasoning ability to those misconceptions, and on the extent that textbooks encourage misconceptions. Concludes that the level of understanding displayed for the selected concepts, in combination with the nature of students'…

A study of seventh and eighth graders in the southwest compared effects on exercise-intrinsic motivation and physical self-worth of taking either the President's Challenge or the Fitnessgram fitness test battery. Results did not support the premise that fitness test batteries would produce different motivational and self-perception outcomes. (SM)

The students targeted were third and fourth grade students with learning-disabilities and seventh-eighth grade science students who exhibited poor test scores, motivation, and behaviors that negatively impacted their learning. The objective of this study was to change the level of student engagement in order to increase their academic achievement…

This manual has been produced to familiarize data users with the procedures used for data collection and processing of the base year parent component of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) and to provide necessary documentation for using the data files. Chapter 7 and Appendix F, in particular, contain essential information…

The "Give and Take" economic series, developed by the Joint Council on Economic Education for junior high school students, was found to have a positive and significant impact on learning and attitudes. Three eighth grade classes from Texas City, Texas, participated in the study. One class received instruction using the "Give and…

Children's academic achievement has been shown to be influenced by many family factors, including family structure, socioeconomic status, and parenting styles. This study investigated the relationships among family structure, socioeconomic status, authoritative parenting, and children's academic achievement in a sample of 181 eighth graders in 2…

The North Carolina State Board of Education, as part of the Quality Assurance Program, initially established a computer proficiency requirement for diplomas issued to the Class of 2000. In October 1995, the Board made the requirement effective beginning with the graduating class of 2001. Students who were in grade eight for the 1996-97 school year…

This study analyzed base-year student data files from the 1988 National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS:88) cross-sectionally to identify relationships between school violence and student achievement in reading and mathematics. The analysis identified student behavior variables related to three measures of school violence: (1) personal…

Adolescents continue to use alcohol and other drugs despite the profound risks to their health. This thesis examines the attitudes of students in grades 7-9 toward alcohol and other nonprescriptive mind-altering substances. Eight independent variables were investigated: (1) gender; (2) grade placement; (3) DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education)…

This action research project involved implementation of a program designed to minimize inappropriate student behavior that interfered with instruction. The target populations were students in three third grades in an elementary school, one third grade in an intermediate school, and one eighth grade social studies class in a middle school. All…

In July and August 1989 the Delaware-Chenango Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) piloted the Summer Telelearning for Academic Renewal (STAR) program, a telecommunications-based program aimed at reducing the potential for at-risk eighth graders to drop out of school. Students were selected for the program by their home schools on the…

This teacher's guide describes a course unit on the electoral college designed to teach eighth grade students about the election process for the President of the United States. The historical significance of the electoral college, its procedures, and its relevance to today's political system are discussed. Ten lesson plans with student objectives,…