In this report, School Resource Officer (SRO) programs in four school districts are examined. The study was primarily concerned with what variables affect students' comfort level in reporting crimes to the SRO, and their perceptions of safety. The analysis was driven by data obtained through surveys of 907 students. Using these data, seven…

Investigated problem-solving perseverance of (n=40) students in grades 6 and 10 while solving nonroutine number problems. Students who were ultimately successful were more inclined than others to be flexible in their use of strategies. (40 references) (Author/MKR)

Introduction: This research sought to investigate how school students build on their existing knowledge of a curriculum topic and transform found information into personal knowledge, and how their knowledge of this topic changes. Method: The qualitative study involved 574 students from Grades 6 to 12 in ten New Jersey schools. The context for data…

This report provides information on how Hawaii's students performed on the 1987 and 1988 administrations of the Stanford Writing Assessment (which was adopted as part of Hawaii's Statewide Testing Program). Included in the report are a state summary of the performance of students in grades 3, 6, 8, and 10 and an analysis of the assessment results…

Examining the status of the United States National Study of the International Evaluation of Educational Achievement Study of Written Composition (IEA-SWC), this report discusses the results of SWC, which attempted to assess, nationally and internationally, the quality of student writing in schools by collecting and evaluating student compositions.…

One of the two major phases of the Test Use Project of the Center for the Study of Evalaution (CSE) is discussed; that is, the collection and analyses of survey data from a national sample of teachers and principals representing the targeted grades/schools. Some historical background influencing that phase of the project is provided. The findings…

Presents a complete outline of the critical thinking skills taught in grades 3, 6, 8, 10, and 12. Categories are clarifying issues and terms, judging and utilizing information, and drawing conclusions. (JDH)

Surveyed more than 900 students in the rural northwest at the 4th-, 6th-, 8th-, and 10th-grade levels for alcohol and drug use. Measured self-reported usage of 17 substances. Reports descriptive statistical results by gender and grade-level usage rates. Discussion includes targeting drug prevention programs for specific grade and gender levels…

The relationship among three personal fables ("omnipotence," "invulnerability," "personal uniqueness"), narcissism, and mental health variables was assessed in a large, cross-sectional sample of adolescents drawn from Grades 6 (n = 94), 8 (n = 223), 10 (n = 142), and 12 (n = 102). Participants responded to the New Personal Fable Scale, the…

This study addresses the longitudinal associations between youths' out-of-school activities, expectancies-values, and high school course enrollment in the domains of math and science. Data were collected on 227 youth who reported on their activity participation in 5th grade, expectancies-values in 6th and 10th grade, and courses taken throughout…

The passage dependence of an item refers to the degree to which it is necessary to read the associated passage in order to be able to answer that item correctly. This paper studies the value of obtaining data about passage dependence in the construction of reading comprehension achievement tests. Passage dependence indices were examined in several…

A study of discourse synthesis (readers/writers composing new texts by selecting, organizing, and connecting content from source texts) examined the performance of accomplished and less accomplished readers in the 6th, 8th, and 10th grades on a report-writing task. Over a 3-day period 60 English/language arts students wrote informational reports…

The taxonomy of cohesion devised by M. A. K. Halliday and R. Hasen was used to examine the kinds of cohesive ties used in argumentative prose written by 105 sixth, tenth, and twelfth grade students. In this way, the study sought to determine whether there were differences between grade levels in the kinds of ties used and in the numbers of…

A study conducted to determine whether color makes a significant difference in learning from 16mm sound motion pictures by subjects accustomed to the widespread use of color in contemporary media found no significant differences for the groups of first graders, sixth graders, ninth and tenth graders, and college students tested. (RAO)

Interviewers asked (n=10) 6th- and (n=10) 10th-grade students to solve nonroutine number problems. Task analysis of perseverers, those students who continued after reaching "dead-ends," found that students who were ultimately successful were more inclined to be flexible in their strategies. (28 references) (MKR)