The purpose of this study was to conduct a critical analysis of (1) the disparities between the SAT scores of Black and White students, and Hispanic and White students, for 2004 and 2005 and (2) what those disparities suggest about the effectiveness of the State of Virginia "SOL" program and the Federal "No Child Left Behind"…

This document presents the proceedings of the 17th Annual Research Forum held June 29, 2012, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included herein are the following 25 action research papers: (1) "Reading and Writing": A Study Comparing the Strengths of Peer Review and Visible Author Writing Strategies (Elizabeth Behar); (2)…

This study examines the impact of 2 professional learning community (PLC) classroom practices on the English Language Arts achievement of California's most at-risk subgroups between selected higher- and lower-performing elementary schools in a southern California school district. The conclusions from this study agree with the body of research,…

The Education-Drug Use Connection focused primarily on a nationwide sample of adolescents, first surveyed when they were nearing the end of 8th grade in the years 1991, 1992, and 1993, and followed biennially for eight years thereafter. (Full details on samples and methods are provided in Bachman et al., 2008, and are not repeated here.) The…

This report describes the postsecondary enrollment rates for the AISD senior student Classes of 2002 through 2004.

Using the base year data of parent interviews (n=15,376) conducted by the U. S. Department of Education for the national Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K), this study examined patterns of parenting style of Asian-American parents (n=536) in six domains. Descriptive and ANOVA analyses revealed significant differences between…

The purpose of this study was to screen for gender-based (female-male) and ethnic-based (Hispanic-White) differential item functioning (DIF) in the 2003 Idaho Standards Achievement Tests of reading, language arts and mathematics at grades 4, 8 and 10. The vendor, the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA), assembled the computer-administered…

The purposes of this study were to examine whether ethnic differences in college students' self-construals exist and whether these self-construals are associated with preferences for different types of classroom organization; and also to test the validity of self-construal theory to explain psychological differences. Self-reports were collected…

In this theoretical dissertation my aim is to research the academic literature in the field of second language acquisition (SLA), compare it to the life experiences of past and/or present students, colleagues, children and myself to reflect and summarize my learning in the form of a conceptual framework that I have named, "Framework for…

Under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, the administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) became mandatory for all states in mathematics and reading for grades four and eight. Under NCLB the stated role and purpose of collecting achievement data from states varies from being a "discussion tool" to a…

Increased numbers of minority students as well as increased numbers of Florida high school graduates entering higher education in Florida have influenced Florida SUS [State University System] enrollment and graduation characteristics. This study of 510,952 undergraduate students shows that between the years 1996 and 2003, the number of entering…

The development of a sense of self in adolescence has been shown to be influenced by the perceived level of warmth of the mother. Additionally, the nature of the home environment has been found to relate to an adolescent's level of self-esteem (Buri, 1990; Field, Lang, Yando, and Bendell, 1993). Hispanic adolescent females and their mothers in…

This occasional paper is intended to serve as a supplement to the larger annual volume, "Monitoring the Future National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2006: Volume I: Secondary School Students." This supplement contains the graphic presentation of the trends in drug use for various demographic subgroups, namely those defined by gender, college…

The purpose of this exercise was to determine whether any of the available demographic or academic variables show distinct trends in three specific discipline areas that differ from those of other areas: (1) Engineering, (2) Computer Sciences, and (3) Biological Sciences. Using data from 39,087 SUS graduates in 2002-03 and of 324,164 science…

Many dangers and challenges face inner-city minority children during their after-school hours. Youth development programs provide an alternative to spending this time unsupervised. We examined the relationship between children's experiences in selected urban Boys and Girls Clubs and child functioning. Because the sample (N = 296) consisted of…