In an evaluation of a language arts program for oral and written facility and comprehension among children of an urban culture, 262 children in kindergarten comprised the experimental group, and 369 students served as controls. Children in both groups were presented with three pictures and instructed to tell a story about each. Observers rated…

This segment of the national evaluation study of the Follow Through Planned Variation Model presents an analysis of the longitudinal effects of Follow Through program models and a study of Follow Through children who were identified as being at academic risk. The longitudinal analysis examines three dimensions of program effects: (1) differences…

Chicano and Amerindian vocabulary scale responses from the Stanford-Binet (LM) and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children were item-analyzed for 1,009 subjects. The response patterns differed both by ethnic group and test, as well as by age. The most common, and recurring, pattern found was "level-of-difficulty" gradient…

This paper reviews some recent research on the relationship of group processes and cultural milieux to choice of linguistic form and Its implications for problem solving in small (minority) groups. Basic to the discussion is the concept that language usage conveys important social information and is therefore not a matter of choice but must be…

The ability of bilingual students to profit educationally when Spanish is the vehicle of instruction was inferred from a qualitative analysis of their responses to matched Spanish-English vocabulary tests. The responses of 53 bilingual junior high school students with strong Spanish language histories were classified as qualitatively higher or…

As the title suggests, this book specifically attempts to illuminate the communicative habits and expressive life-style of urban black Americans within the community setting. The volume consists of four sections: "Nonverbal Communication,""Vocabulary and Culture,""Expressive Uses of Language," and "Expressive Role B Behavior." Articles in the…

This report presents the working model for a study to evaluate methods of teaching German in Sweden. The study, which has construction, revision, and normalization phases, involves researchers, textbook authors, publishers, teachers, and students (including a student control group). The questions to be considered are: (1) What verbal intelligence,…

Black students from two cities and Mexican-American students, both male and female, showed small but consistent tendencies to perform better, relative to White groups, on three nontraditional measures: tests of inductive reasoning, spatial scanning, and associative memory. These measures showed somewhat less discrepancy between the groups than did…

Three 1970-71 studies concerning the styles of instruction that lead to higher intellectual performance among village American Indian and Eskimo high school students are presented in this final report of observations of teachers and students in several Native boarding schools and/or integrated urban high schools in Alaska. The first study, an…

Two experiments were conducted in Israeli elementary schools to test the assumption that disadvantaged students perform poorly on ability tests because of situational factors related to the testing process. Testing atmosphere and examiner status were examined with respect to verbal and nonverbal ability and intelligence. The assumption was not…

This paper describes the various ways in which the SAT has evolved since its introduction in 1926. Some of the modifications have involved changes in the types of questions used to measure verbal and mathematical skills. Other modifications focused on liberalizing time limits to ensure that speed of responding to questions has minimal effect on…

A pilot pull-out program for the gifted in British Columbia, Canada (grades five, six, and seven) is described, and evaluation results are presented. Thinking and communication skills are developed through games, field trips, individual projects, multiple problem-solving tasks, and challenging work in fields such as fine arts, history, and…

Gender differences in self-assessments, teacher ratings, and grades were examined for 124 female and 98 male rural high school students in the prediction of verbal reasoning and numerical ability test scores. Despite some gender differences, results support using teacher assessment and student self-assessment in predicting test performance. (SLD)

This cross-sectional study explored whether participation, from early childhood, in play involving different cognitive abilities predicts visuo-spatial achievement at ages 9, 12, and 15. Based on parental assessment, prior and present practice of spatial manipulation play was found to be consistently more frequent in boys than in girls; the…

Background: Individuals with Down syndrome consistently perform less well than appropriately matched comparison groups on tests of verbal short-term memory, despite performing relatively well on non-verbal short-term memory tasks. However, it is not clear whether these findings constitute evidence for a selective deficit in verbal short-term…