Assessing student achievement over multiple years is complicated by students' memberships in shifting upper-level nesting structures. These structures are manifested in (1) annual matriculation to different classrooms and (2) mobility between schools. Failure to model these shifting upper-level nesting structures may bias the inferences…

The author describes the steps taken by a research team, of which she was part, to develop a specific methodology for assessing student attainment in primary school, working with the Programme for the Analysis of Education Systems (PASEC) of the Conference of Ministers of Education of French-speaking Countries (CONFEMEN). This methodology provides…

This book simultaneously provides multiple analyses of critical pedagogy in the twenty-first century while showcasing the scholarship of this new generation of critical scholar-educators. Needless to say, the writers herein represent just a small subset of a much larger movement for critical transformation and a more humane, less Eurocentric, less…

A questionnaire was administered to school principals (N = 88). The questionnaire data, along with student achievement data and school practices data, were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression to investigate the relationships among leadership preparation practices, self rated leader behavior, the school learning environment, and student…

During the past decade, the use of standardized benchmark measures to differentiate and individualize instruction for students received renewed attention from educators. Although teachers may use their own assessments (tests, quizzes, homework, problem sets) for monitoring learning, it is challenging for them to equate performance on classroom…

Critically analyzes Neville Bennett's book "Teaching Styles and Pupil Progress," which found that formal teaching styles are more closely associated with student achievement in "basic skills" than are informal styles. (IRT)

The "Nation's Report Card," the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. This report summarizes some of the sophisticated statistical methodology used in the 1992 Trial State Assessment of…

This study explored relationships among elementary students' cognitive styles, Logo programing, academic achievement, and cognitive abilities. It was found that top-down processing as measured by a writing activity is positively related to Logo programing success, field independence, holistic tendencies, and general academic achievement. LOGO…

This report is about the conceptual and methodological issues that arise when educational researchers use data from large-scale survey research studies to investigate teacher effects on student achievement. The report illustrates these issues by reporting on a series of analyses of data from "Prospects: The Congressionally Mandated Study of…

Discusses conceptual and methodological issues arising when educational researchers use data from large-scale surveys to examine teachers' effects on student achievement. Data from a 1991-94 study show how researchers' use of different statistical models leads to widely varying interpretations about the overall magnitude of teacher effects. The…

This author's focus is on identifying and describing the institutional patterns and instructional practices of elementary schools that are instructionally effective, especially for students from low socioeconomic and disadvantaged backgrounds. The steps for designing such a research project are outlined. A study is described that uses basic skills…

The results of Seaver's (1973) quasi-experimental study of the effects of teacher expectancies on student achievement based on older sibling performance are reinterpreted as a regression artifact. That this rival explanation has not been recognized in the literature is probably due to the effects of researcher expectancies. (Author/BS)

It is generally recognized that the home background of students is important for their achievement and progress through school, but obtaining accurate information is becoming increasingly difficult. School-level indicators of socioeconomic status, although coarse, may consist of more than the sum of family backgrounds of students attending the…

In time-on-task observations, the effects of variations in methodological characteristics on the importance of time-on-task for student achievement were examined. Substantive conclusions were affected by variations in five areas with the greatest differences due to changes in the duration and number of days of observation. (CM)

This paper presents an economic model of the relationship between time allocated to learning activities at home and achievement in school. The model is contrasted to four alternative models of the home-school relationship. Data from a 1975 survey of the parents of 887 elementary school children from one New York State school district are used to…