Explains an eleventh grade literature unit on Transcendentalism which employed a wide variety of supplemental materials and literary connections and which provided alternate assessment opportunities. Details how this unit revealed meaningful connections through comics, music, free reading, and multiple intelligences. Concludes that many students…

Addresses that distinctive contribution of English to the development of students' literate capabilities as they progress through the years of schooling. Develops a framework for thinking about the nature of knowledges and the repertoires of literate practice made available to students of the English classroom. Explains different understandings…

Reports the findings of two experiments conducted with South African senior high school students to examine the relationships of metacognitive strategies and nonverbal reasoning ability to test performance in mathematics and English comprehension. Suggests that teaching metacognitive strategies to students who lack such skills may improve their…

Shows that journalism students who have taken a special intensive journalistic writing course pass Advanced Placement English and Composition exams more often than other students, including those who have taken AP English writing courses. Describes workshops for high school journalism and English teachers offered each summer by the Dow Jones…

The number of educational research studies involving pupils is increasing. Most studies are with pupils in a specific age group or concentrate on certain categories, such as special needs or the gifted and talented. However there have been few studies that involve pupils in the middle ability range of Key Stage 3. A research study into target…

The reciprocal relationship between mathematics achievement and self-concept is examined in this study to expand the existing knowledge to a cross-cultural setting. Based on analyses of educational data two years before and after Hong Kong's sovereignty switch in 1997, this investigation shows a weak reciprocal relationship among the eighth-grade…

A study developed criteria for judging state standards for the English language arts and reading and analyzed the 28 current standards documents. The criteria used for judging the standards relate to the purpose, audience, expectations, and assumptions of the standards documents; the organization of the standards; disciplinary coverage of the…

Reflecting some of the emerging issues sustaining debate in secondary school literature instruction and writing instruction, this newsletter presents articles that discuss the impact of E. D. Hirsch's book "Cultural Literacy,""authentic discourse," and collaborative classroom research. Articles in the newsletter are:…

The self-concept scores of 50 learning disabled male adolescents (mean age 16.5 years) on the Situation Specific Subject Competence Test for mathematics, English, and physical education were compared with their most recent achievement test performance in these three subject areas. Results suggested that math achievement was positively correlated…

A model for analyzing the interactions of the teaching act is essential for raising teachers' consciousness about the multitude of factors that constitute teaching. A paradigm for analyzing the teaching act can be stated as follows: the activities of a given subject matter, when taught by teachers with a particular background and qualities, will…

An evaluation-reward system was developed in which students received points based on a comparison of their weekly quiz performance to a "base score" which was derived from a pretest, and adjusted to reflect actual weekly performance. This system was evaluated in terms of its effect on student achievement, using a group of English classes…

In the fall of 1975, a committee on the use of English was appointed by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois to determine the nature of the writing problem in the college, to assess its significance, and to make recommendations for the improvement of student writing. As part of their work, the committee obtained…

Groups of low-achieving and high-achieving high school students were identified on the basis of overall grades. Comparisons between students in heterogeneous and ability-grouped English and mathematics classes indicated grouping leads to improved achievement and attitudes toward subject matter in regular and remedial classes. (Author/DWH)

The quantity of education in vocabulary, reading comprehension, mathematics, science, social studies, and English has a positive effect on academic achievement for high school students with similar background characteristics (ability, sex, race, and social class). The greatest correlation was found in mathematics, the least in vocabulary and…

Reports the results of a year-long program incorporating intensive journalistic writing into Advanced Placement English courses. Notes that most students who took the course received high scores on the Advanced Placement English Language and Composition test, and that all students in the course improved their writing. (MM)