A study of five autistic children in a segregated preschool, five mainstreamed autistic children, and four nonhandicapped, integrated peers found that all of the groups made better than normative progress in language development. There were no significant differences in changes in language ability between segregated and mainstreamed autistic…

This report summarizes results from three large-scale reviews of research on the impact of social and emotional learning (SEL) programs on elementary and middle-school students--that is, programs that seek to promote various social and emotional skills. Collectively the three reviews included 317 studies and involved 324,303 children. SEL programs…

This study uses rich empirical data from Brazil to assess how a government program (PDE) that decentralizes school management decisions changes what goes on in schools and how these changes affect student outcomes. It appears that the PDE resulted in some improvements in management and learning materials, but little change in other areas including…

Guidelines for and obstacles to focusing on student learning outcomes as the primary educational goal are presented in this paper. Five obstacles that impede the focus on student outcomes are the beliefs that: learning should be normally distributed; education's purpose is to select talent; the purpose of testing is for evaluation only; curriculum…

Presents the personal experience of 24 students who took part in the TOPS Clerical Training Course with regard to the course as a whole and of various aspects, such as the curriculum, methods of teaching, and relationships. (CT)

Concluded that studies of coaching for the Scholastic Aptitude Test were methodologically flawed but that some definite regularities could be identified. These regularities indicated size of score effects was related to amount of student contact time in coaching programs. (Author/DB)

This chapter is designed to acquaint the reader with the context for accreditors' increased emphasis on student learning outcomes as a key indicator of institutional quality and on the use of learning assessment as a key strategy for guiding institutional improvement. It articulates accreditors' expectations for the presentation of evidence that…

The 285 adult schools in California enrolled 1,206,864 adult learners supported through state apportionment funds in program year 2006-07. This report presents the results of data collected by the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems (CASAS) from all learners enrolled in California adult schools. The report analysis was prepared by…

This research is a follow up to a similar study published by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania in 2003 in which researchers examined alternative education policies and practices among Pennsylvania school districts. The current study extended the previous research to include information on the perceptions of administrators and teachers on the…

This research was based on an instructional module developed and used to investigate whether GIS can be used to enhance fourth grade students' geographic knowledge and map skills. Another goal was to identify challenges the teacher and the students face using GIS. Findings from the study suggest that using GIS in the classroom helps students…

Investigated the impact of the 14-week Purdue Creative Thinking Program on learning disabled intermediate grade children. Found pupils in the experimental group made significantly higher scores on the creativity variables of the verbal subtest of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. (Author/JAC)

Explores the impact of unannounced quizzes on students' performance on examinations by comparing course segments with quizzes to segments without quizzes. Finds that test scores following quizzes averaged half a letter grade higher than scores from segments without quizzes; C students demonstrated a grade gain of 84% of a letter grade. (CMK)

Describes journal writing as a way to actively engage students in learning about personality theories. Evaluates whether journals increased student learning by comparing test grades from two classes: one with assigned journals, the other without. Reports on students' responses on a questionnaire addressing journal writing. Discusses the findings…

Discussion of students' perceptions of their learning environment focuses on the concept of self-efficacy, which is defined as a sense of confidence regarding the performance of specific tasks. The premise is that student self-efficacy beliefs regarding academic performance can have implications for improving learning environments and student…

This research brief from Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC) (Florida) addresses the retention rates of students enrolled in intervention courses. In July of 1998, an evaluation of the new SLS (College Survival Skills) intervention courses for college preparatory students indicated that students who successfully completed SLS had a significantly…