Grade 5-6 boys worked on a discrimination task under one of five conditions: no feedback; positive feedback following successes; positive feedback following failure; negative feedback following successes; and negative feedback following failures. Boys persisted longest on the task when they received either positive or negative feedback following…

The effects of gender bias and number of errors as unintentional determinants of essay grades were studied with 22 undergraduate education majors grading four essays by sixth graders in stereotypically male or female handwriting. Essays believed to be written by boys were graded higher than those believed to be written by girls regardless of…

The intention of this study was to discover how and to what extent children use simile and metaphor in their spontaneous oral language. Results showed that type of stimulus was the most influential factor in inducing children's oral metaphoric language, with the nature of the task also significant. (Author/GK)

Multivariate statistical analysis determined relationships between scores on the Otis-Lennon School Ability Test and the Stanford Achievement Test at grades 2, 4, and 6 for 272 students. The best predictor of achievement at a later grade was achievement at an earlier grade. Implications are discussed. (SLD)

Four family process factors (parental expectations, parental interest, parental involvement, and family communication) were assessed for their impact on grades and achievement test scores of 300 students in sixth and seventh grades in a longitudinal study. The most influential was parental expectation of students' capabilities in specific…

Differences and relationships between home environment and motivational orientation were examined for 28 higher and 29 lower achieving mainland Puerto Rican children in grades 5 and 6. Post-hoc multiple regression analysis revealed that family involvement accounted for a significant amount of variance with regard to achievement. (SLD)

The effect of a listening-to-literature program on the attitudes toward reading of 1,712 middle school (grades 6 through 8) students was studied. Selected teachers read aloud to students four or five days a week for six months. An experimental group pretest/posttest design indicated a positive difference in student attitudes. (SLD)

University professors gave inservice workshops for intermediate grade teachers and continued to support teachers by modeling reading instruction techniques and monitoring implementation of reading strategies in the teachers' classrooms. Results for 82 fifth and sixth graders showed significant gains in Metropolitan Achievement Test reading scores…