Elementary-school learning-disabled, emotionally disabled, educable mentally retarded, and nonhandicapped students (N=122) were observed during written language instruction, to document writing tasks and student responding. Extreme variability was found in the amount of time individual students spent in writing activities or in receiving written…

Student-faculty contact is widely accepted as influencing retention within campus-based programs. The difficulties of implementing such contact within a distance learning environment magnify its importance as a topic for investigation. This study sought to evaluate the effect of faculty initiated contacts on student persistence within a large…

This study examined the extent to which categorical differences exist in the instructional environment for students with mild handicaps. Subjects were 30 learning-disabled, 32 emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, 30 educable mentally retarded, and 30 nonhandicapped students in grades 2-4. Twenty-four special education teachers and 54 regular…

Two repeated-measures designs with 15 speech-delayed children (ages 2-8) and 5 case studies were completed to compare tabletop management at early and late stages of the response development phase with 2 computer-assisted drill-and-practice activities, 1 of which involved fantasy. The three intervention modes were equally effective, efficient, and…

The purpose of this study was to characterize the nature of conversational engagement evidenced by 30 learning-disabled and 30 nondisabled children while they participated in a semi-structured dyadic interaction. Also investigated were the relationships among the levels of engagement employed by the elementary or junior high students and their…

Analyzes effect of brain hemisphere orientation on music appreciation. Reports results from 36 left-hemisphere and 36 right-hemisphere undergraduates who responded to a musical selection verbally or visually. Finds right-hemisphere students show greater appreciation, measured by attention, understanding, and enjoyment scores. Discusses…

This study compared 4,594 student responses from three different surveys of incoming students at the University of South Florida (USF) with data from Florida's State University System (SUS) admissions files to determine what proportion of error occurs in the survey responses. Specifically, the study investigated the amount of measurement error in…

Observations were conducted to document the active academic responding and academic engagement rates of 122 elementary students (30 learning-disabled, 32 emotionally/behaviorally disturbed, 30 mildly mentally retarded, and 30 self-contained programs. Data were recorded in 10-second intervals for each student over an entire school day. During a…

This project examined the extent to which varying instructional grouping arrangements are used for different categories of mildly handicapped students in various instructional settings and the extent to which any differences translated to differences in student responses. Observational data were recorded all day in 10-second intervals for 122…

This study employed the authors' previously developed Statements about Schools Inventory (SAS) to assess how well 14 alternative and 11 conventional high schools were meeting the needs of their students. Pairs of alternative and conventional schools studied were located in 11 communities in 10 states. Results of both student and teacher responses…