Holding students back when they do not meet a specific attainment level is common practice in a lot of countries. However, this practice is not without controversy and recent studies point at the negative effects of grade retention, especially in the long-term. The majority of these studies focused on grade retention in primary education. In our…

Previous research indicates that academic emotions are largely organized along domain-specific lines. In the present study (N = 1,687; Grades 8/11), the authors explored the domain specificity of academic emotions in terms of the moderating influence of having the same versus a different course instructor across domains. The authors evaluated…

The topic of cyberbullying is raising international debate and concern. Through the development and dissemination of a questionnaire 12 student researchers were supported in surveying 325 UK students across Years 7, 8 and 9 to gain further knowledge of this area, in relation to children and young people. Results were analysed and comparisons made…

This study examined what kinds of groups can be identified according to students' task-values across four subject domains (languages, math and science, social sciences, practical subjects) and the related gender differences using a person-centered approach. Latent class analysis was applied to classify 638 students (mean age = 15) into four…

Differences and similarities between 25 eighth-grade truants and 25 nontruants--matched for age, grade, gender, and ethnicity--were explored on four dimensions: family variables, friendship patterns and interests, behavior and attitudes toward school, and cognitive factors including academic ability and achievement. (Author/LMO)

This study explored the effects of portfolio assessment on locus of control among 90 eighth-graders with and without disabilities. Results indicated that all participants scored more internally oriented in terms of locus of control than those not involved in portfolio assessment. (Contains references.) (Author/PB)

A study explored the question of the development of recall for narrative and informative texts. Subjects, 60 5th- 8th-, and 11th-grade students from a rural area of Quebec, representing all levels of achievement, were presented with an informative text and a narrative text. Results indicated that: (1) the narrative text elicited a longer recall…

Describes a study to compare the relative validities of ranking v categorical rating procedures for obtaining student vocational preference data in exploratory program assignment situations. Students indicated their vocational program preferences from career clusters, and the frequency of wrong assignments made by each method was analyzed. (MF)

Analyzes two textbooks currently used in teaching eighth-grade students South Carolina history to determine how issues of race and ethnicity are addressed. The analysis shows that neither textbook offers students a desirable picture of race in South Carolina, nor will they help to change young readers' views of the history of race relations and…

Conducted as part of the 1994 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the "NAEP Reader" study was designed to compare the performance of students who were allowed to select a story with the performance of those who were assigned a story. One nationally representative sample of students at each grade was allowed to choose a…

This article presents two developmental studies of discourse patterns in student writing. Results from two projects are presented: (1) the NORDWRITE project (1986-1989; Norwegian argumentative material from grades eight and nine) and (2) a comparison of argumentative writing in grades eight and nine with foreign language argumentative writing at…

This field experiment begins to build a theoretical framework for exploring the effects of media characteristics on subjects' understanding and integration of information. Students in two eighth-grade science classes wrote term papers with one class using a print encyclopedia and the other an electronic encyclopedia to conduct their research. A…

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 National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) is the third major study in the National Center for Education Statistics program of longitudinal studies about the achievement and characteristics of elementary and secondary school students. NELS:88 began with a base year survey of eighth grade students in 1988, followed up at 2-year…

This study presents students' responses to the question: "Why do you think they teach you American history in school?" It also provides responses to a second related question: "How might learning history help you in your life away from school?" The study also discusses the types and nature of the rationales students offered and places them against…