A test of the hypothesis that writing and using computer programs related to selected mathematical content positively affects performance on those topics. Results particularly support the hypothesis. (MM)

A survey of 1,085 seventh and eleventh graders assessed the impact of parents, peers, siblings, advertising, and sponsorship as role models influencing attitudes toward smoking and smoking behavior. Results suggest that intervention programs need to address nicotine addiction and be in place before grade seven. (JOW)

The annual event dropout rate describes the proportion of students who leave school each year without completing a high school program. The event dropout rates for the school year 2004-2005 of 1.68% for grades 7 through 12th and 2.40% for grades 9 through 12th are at the lowest levels in the past ten years. The event completion/graduation rate…

Using the counting features in previous mean length of utterance (MLU) studies, a study of the active vocabularies of adolescents looked at seven concrete features of the words 104 seventh grade and 100 eleventh grade subjects gave in response to 10 pictures. Each subject wrote five words for each of the pictures, which were analyzed for number of…

To determine whether older students make more revisions in their essays, more kinds of revisions, or "bigger" revisions than younger students, a study was made of revisions made by 30 randomly selected seventh grade and 30 randomly selected eleventh grade students. Students were asked to write and revise twice essays in which they described a…

GRADES OR AGES: Grades 6-12. SUBJECT MATTER: French language, literature, and civilization. ORGANIZATION AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: The guide is divided into seven sections, one for each grade. Each section is in list form. It is mimeographed and spiral bound with a paper cover. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES: Each section lists several general…

Examines three writing assignment variables--topic, purpose, and audience--to determine how writing prompts affect student performance in grades 7, 9, and 11, and in college freshmen. Finds these variables influenced writing quality at different grades in different ways; generally, specific purpose and topic cues produced better essays. (SR)

Examined interactive nature of age in predicting alcohol, marijuana, and drug use among 435 seventh and eleventh graders. Found statistically significant interaction terms for age with peer and social control factors for each type of usage. Findings suggest that many factors commonly associated with adolescent usage may be conditioned by age.…

Examined contributions of physical attractiveness and physical effectiveness to self-esteem among adolescents in grades 7, 9, and 11, and college freshmen. Both attractiveness and effectiveness were significantly related to self-esteem of males and females. Attractiveness and effectiveness did not appear to be differentially important to…

The views of rural Canadian students on the role of technology in their own lives were examined using a sociotechnology and a human ecology model. Students identified several different roles for technology, believed in more equal gender roles in its use, and preferred direct instruction over distance learning. (Author/JOW)

Under the leadership of the Language Arts Curriculum Committee, the Greater Albany (Oregon) Public Schools conducted its second annual district assessment of writing skills of students in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11, using the "analytic trait scoring" method (ATS). The testing procedure, diagnostic in purpose, conformed to the writing process…

Under the leadership of the Language Arts Curriculum Committee, the Greater Albany (Oregon) Public Schools conducted a district assessment of writing skills of students in grades 5, 7, 9, and 11, using the "analytic trait scoring" method (ATS). The testing procedure conformed to the writing process implemented through the district's Real…

This report describes an instructional package designed to replace a set of unsatisfactory textbooks used to teach State history, government, and geography to 4th-, 7th-, 11th-, and 12th-grade students in Virginia. The format of the package, taking what is described as the "inquiry approach", revolves around a series of short television…

GRADES OR AGES: Grades 7-12. SUBJECT MATTER: Art. ORGANIZATION AND PHYSICAL APPEARANCE: The guide is divided into 17 chapters in either straight text or list form, illustrated with examples of student art products. It is mimeographed and spiral bound with a paper cover. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES: A philosophy of art education and related general…

Discussed are trends in performance across the last three National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessments for students in grades 7 and 11, and reports on indicators of instructional activity. The results suggest that achievement in mathematics has taken a modest upturn in the 1980s. (MNS)