The relative influence of gender, coursework, affect, and other hypothesized determinants of mathematics achievement among high school seniors was examined, using data from the High School and Beyond (HSB) database. The HSB base-year survey used a multi-stage sampling scheme. Complete data on the variables of this study were available for 16,358…

This study applied a model of student academic motivation to an existing set of classroom data from 323 third graders in 17 classes from 2 Stanford, California elementary school districts. The model proposed that common forms of student-motivated behavior, such as task engagement, are systematically related to students' cognitive structures and…

This research is part of a longitudinal study designed to compare measures of first-grade oral language with reading achievement at various grade levels. The original study constructed ten measures for oral language from interviews with 100 first graders and compared those measures to the reading achievement of the subjects at the end of first…

This report of research discusses the role of popular television in developing children's verbal skills and in bringing together adolescents and adults. Implications for the home and classroom are described. Titles include "If You Believe in Television, Clap Your Hands," an introductory look at research concerning popular television in the…

A moot court program developed for undergraduate debaters at Ball State University (Indiana) is presented. Following a brief introduction that establishes the benefits of such a program for the students and the department of communication, the first section of the paper explains how the moot court concept was modified to emphasize communication…

Two levels of stimulus condition were used to determine whether or not the amount of salient information contained in the perceptual stimuli accompanying orally presented "wh-questions" (those including the concepts who, what, where, when, how and why) facilitates children's comprehension. Conditions varied in terms of the number of…

This longitudinal study was designed to investigate the nature and extent of sex differences in both verbal and spatial abilities among black and white children. Six scales of early cognitive functioning were administered at three times (at 8 months, 4 years and 7 years) to 3,013 children. Two major hypotheses were examined: (1) if cognitive…

This issue of Measurement in Education is presented in the form of a dialogue between Dr. Robert L. Ebel, Distinguished Professor of Educational Measurement at Michigan State University, and Dr. Samual A. Livingston, Program Research Scientist at the Educational Testing Service. Alternative views on some aspects of the use of tests in assessing…

Minorities have for some time faced underrepresentation in the technical professions. However, recent statistics indicate that many more minorities are enrolled in higher education than ever before. This report centers on identifying the particular difficulties that bilingual Hispanic students majoring in technical subjects have in performing…

A sample of 31 male and 31 female seniors participated in a study designed to correlate critical thinking achievement and scholastic aptitude. The subjects completed the "Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal" (WGCTA), and these scores were correlated with the subjects' scores for the "Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test"…

A six-process theory of analogical reasoning was tested by administering verbal analogy items to students in grades 3 through college. The items were classified according to five verbal relations: synonyms, antonyms, functional, linear ordering, and class membership. A new method of componential analysis that does not require precueing was used to…

A functional typology of verbal instructional tasks for advanced classroom instruction and inservice training is described and illustrated in this paper. The described typology is based upon functional definitions of elementary and conceptual behavior and incorporates the kinds of goals and objectives that surveys and research have shown to be…

The final report of a year-long study of the Hawaii English Program (HEP), a comprehensive language arts curriculum for the elementary grades, comparing the performance level in English of pupils in fifth-grade HEP and non-HEP classes and investigating the attitudes of pupils, teachers, and parents is presented in this volume. Sections in the…

Two way analyses of variance and cross-group descriptive comparisons assessed the effectiveness of the Siop Poison Prevention Program, which included an educational program and the use of warning labels, on improving verbal and visual discrimination of poisonous and nonpoisonous products for preschool children. The study sample consisted of 156…

A study was made of the interrelationships among the language skill complex (auditory discrimination, articulation of speech sounds, recognition vocabulary, and vocabulary of use), grade level, intelligence level, race, sex, father's occupation, school, chronological age, and general reading ability of children placed in the primary grades with…