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 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…

Explored possible link between development of moral reasoning/behavior and metacognition. Examined awareness of moral processes involved in moral reasoning and behavior in 139 adolescents in grades 7, 9, and 12. Found number of significant moral metacognition-reasoning-behavior correlations. Findings support notion that specific types of metamoral…

The main goal of this report is to present evidence on the predictive validity of an English language arts (ELA) performance assessment (PA) administered in Grades 2-9 in a large urban school district. To account for the hierarchical structure of the data (students are nested within schools), we employed hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to…

The connection between out-of-school activities and school engagement was examined in 140, 6th through 9th grade African American adolescents. Youth's out-of-school activities were measured with a series of 7 nightly phone calls and focused on time in structured (homework, academically-oriented, extracurricular/sports) and unstructured (watching…

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…

COURSE TOPICS, CONCEPTS, LEARNING ACTIVITIES, AND TEACHER REFERENCE INFORMATION ARE INCLUDED IN THIS TEACHER GUIDE FOR AN EXPERIMENTAL INSTRUCTIONAL BLOCK ON THE TOPIC "TAKING CARE OF OURSELVES". MAJOR TOPICS INCLUDE (1) UNDERSTANDING HOW WE LEARN, (2) MAINTAINING HEALTHY BODY SYSTEMS, AND (3) DEVELOPING BENEFICIAL PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR.…

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…

The effects of slide photos on ideational fluency in 240 children in grades IV, VII and IX were studied. Children listed uses of tires and knives and similarities between potatoes and carrots, and cats and mice. It was reasoned that stimula which attract attention too closely to physical characteristics of objects directly under consideration…

Implications of the prestige and vitality of English as a foreign language in Brazil were investigated using both direct and indirect measures of attitudes and beliefs. Aspects of solidarity and status identified by factor analysis were investigated in a Brazilian adolescent population, and four statistically distinctive profiles were found.…

The goal of this study was to analyze the development of the relationship between conceptual and linguistic processes as regards idea ordering and structuring (linearizing), when composing a text. Participants (from 7th graders to University students) were required to compose a text using a list of eleven scrambled ideas. Conceptual rules allow to…

Considerable evidence now exists of the problem of boys' underachievement in a wide range of academic subjects, including geography. This paper offers examples of, and suggests tentative solutions to, problems of underachievement based on the findings generated by a research project conducted in an English secondary school. In so doing it raises…

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 second survey of drug and alcohol use among 7th, 9th, and 11th grade students enrolled in California's public secondary schools was conducted from December 1987 to February 1988. The purpose of this survey was to provide information on levels of substance use and related attitudes and experiences among young people who are enrolled in public…