This report presents findings from a review of the best evidence on narrowing the gap in outcomes across the five Every Child Matters (ECM) areas for vulnerable groups in the context of improving outcomes for all. The review was commissioned to prepare the ground for work on "Narrowing the Gap" with participating local authorities (LAs).…

This study examined the effects of training on peer assessment and comments provided regarding oral presentations in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) classrooms. In Study 1, both the treatment and control groups received instruction on skill aspects, but only the treatment group was given an additional 40-minute training on how to rate…

One of the major series of reviews in elementary and secondary education is the Best Evidence Encyclopedia, or the BEE. Up to now, findings for systematic reviews have largely been restricted to the reviews themselves, with few cases in which lessons learned across many reviews using similar methods can be synthesized. The completion of the Best…

This article systematically reviews research on the achievement outcomes of four types of approaches to improving the beginning reading success of children in kindergarten and first grade: Reading curricula, instructional technology, instructional process programs, and combinations of curricula and instructional process. Study inclusion criteria…

This paper discusses the fact that reliability is about scores and not tests and how reliability limits effect sizes. The paper also explores the classical reliability coefficients of stability, equivalence, and internal consistency. Stability is concerned with how stable test scores will be over time, while equivalence addresses the relationship…

Meta-analysis does not solve all the problems encountered in qualitative research reviews, but it holds out some hope for increasing the reliability and dependability of a reviewer's conclusions. Several developments in meta-analysis are cause for optimism. First, different meta-analysts are doing work in the same areas, leading to increased…

Using enrollment decline cases for data, the case survey method analyzes the content of case studies, thus allowing data from various cases to be aggregated and researchers to overcome constraints on data collection. The analyst uses six steps in this method in reviewing the case literature: (1) definition of the unit of analysis, (2)…

The most important problem in psychology and the social sciences today is the failure to produce cumulative knowledge. This situation has led many to conclude that cumulative knowledge and general principles and theories may be impossible to establish in psychology, a conclusion suggesting that psychology can never be a science--only at best a…

Two new methods for constructing a credibility interval (CI)--an interval containing a specified proportion of true validity description--are discussed, from a frequentist perspective. Tolerance intervals, unlike the current method of constructing the CI, have performance characteristics across repeated applications and may be useful in validity…

The reviewer has rich praise for this book and suggests that for readers not familiar with the topic of research synthesis this should be the first book they read.

The validity generalization model of meta analysis is described and modified for application to concurrent validity studies of motor behavior. An example is presented. (Author/MT)

Forty-three language intervention studies published during the 1970s were critically analyzed. Findings indicated that, in general, studies have not paralleled current psycholinguistic thinking. Only 34.8% of the studies were successful in increasing the communicative competence of their severely handicapped subjects. (Author/CL)

The meta-analysis of 22 studies on the effectiveness of computer assisted instruction (CAI) with exceptional children indicated that most studies reported CAI to be largely effective but that the result of calculating effect sizes indicated a moderate effect for CAI. (Author/DB)

Bases for recent allegations of sex bias in Kohlberg's theory of moral development are discussed, and studies comparing the development of moral reasoning across the sexes are reviewed. A meta-analysis supported the conclusion that the overall pattern is one of nonsignificant sex differences in moral reasoning. (Author/RH)

An action theoretic account of skill learning and skill use is offered as a useful heuristic for life-span developmental psychology. The version presented is one that is particularly prominent in industrial psychology in the German-speaking countries. (Author/RH)