The Change Writers project was born in the Title I schools of Elk Grove, California, when Gail Desler, a technology integration specialist, became motivated to open up the district's mandated "Open Court" curriculum to better serve intermediate-grade students. Through writing, technology, and imagination, a larger conversation was…

The purpose of this study was to determine if the adoption of the Deming philosophy by teachers and use of the LtoJ[R] process resulted in greater academic achievement. Results of internal consistency analysis indicated that the instrument, the "Commitment to Quality Inventory for Educators," was a reliable measure of the Deming…

The middle grades are in crisis. By state and national measures, student achievement gains realized in the elementary grades all too often diminish by grade 8. In most states, the considerable policy focus on high schools in recent years has not trickled down to a focus on the middle grades --yet preparation for "college- and work-ready standards"…

The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, associations exist between students' academic success on achievement tests and the predictor variables of students' socioeconomic status, participation in an after-school program, and gender. Middlesboro Intermediate School contains a high number of students who participate in the federal…

The study is described which compared school-related self-perceptions of ability of 29 gifted and 71 average-achieving intermediate students over a 2-year period. The Student's Perception of Ability Scale was administered at the beginning and end of grade 6 and at the end of grade 7. The scale contains six subscales: perception of general ability,…

The study investigated comparable achievement of 75 academically gifted students (grades 4-6) in a self-contained 5-day per week class with 148 gifted students (grades 4-6) in a 1-day per week gifted program. The Ross Test of Higher Cognitive Processes measured higher cognitive skills in a pre- and post-test design, and the California Achievement…

Sixth grade Ss scoring in the top third on the Verbal subtest of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking had significantly higher Imaginational Overexcitability scores than Ss scoring in the lower third, whereas Ss scoring in the top third on the Figural subtest had significantly higher Psychomotor Overexcitability scores. (Author/CL)

The effects of active participation on student learning was investigated using 20 fifth grade classes which were randomly assigned treatment levels. Results suggest that active student participation exerts a positive influence on fifth grade student achievement of relatively unique instructional material. (Author/MT)

A limited test of the Annehurst Curriculum Classification System's techniques for matching instructional materials to learner characteristics failed to reveal significant differences between the achievement of students matched to materials and those unmatched. (PGD)

Performances of 51 gifted and 51 normal intermediate students on 11 subtests of the Iowa Achievement Test indicated that vocabulary, mathematics concepts, spelling and graph interpretation were the areas that best discriminated the gifted Ss from the normal Ss. (CL)

Motivation and nine other factors were measured for 970 students in grades five through eight in a study of factors predicting achievement and predicting motivation. Results are discussed. (Author/MT)

Comparative grading persists because society continues to value its selective function--allocation of scarce educational and economic resources to the most educable students. There is an unspoken consensus that grades are necessary to motivate students to learn. Educators should tap middle schoolers' internal and inherent motivators instead.…

To examine various aspects of using small unit study guides, two experiments were conducted with 24 fifth-grade students. (Author/SBH)

An initial study in teaching style was carried out among Tasmanian primary school teachers who responsed to a questionnaire regarding ten categories of teaching behaviors and attitudes drawn from research. A second study sampled 28 teachers and obtained achievement measures for their 574 pupils. Results of both studies are presented. (Author/MT)

Discrepancies between ability and achievement were calculated for reading, spelling, and arithmetic for 64 intellectually gifted students in grades four-six. Means were plotted for males and females. While no statistically significant differences were found between groups, females scored closer to their expected achievement levels than males,…