One option for length of individual mathematics class periods is the schedule type selected for Algebra I classes. This study examined the relationship between student achievement, as indicated by Algebra I Criterion-Referenced Test scores, and the schedule type for Algebra I classes. Data obtained from the Utah State Office of Education included…

The value of the duration of participation in a small spacecraft program has not previously been sufficiently characterized. This work seeks to determine whether most relevant benefits are received by participants quickly (suggesting that participant education would be best achieved by shorter duration exposure to multiple domains) or accrues over…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count, this issue of "Data Notes" investigates the number of attempts it takes students to complete all developmental education courses to which they are referred. Subsequent gateway course completion and overall persistence are also examined. Three-year outcomes were analyzed and…

In science education, inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning provide a framework for students to building critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. Teacher professional development has been an ongoing focus for promoting such educational reforms. However, despite a strong consensus regarding best practices for professional…

The authors surveyed student teachers in a yearlong internship and their peers in a traditional semester-long internship to compare perceptions across different practice teaching experiences. All participants were enrolled in the same university and were similar across gender, age, ethnicity, and undergraduate educational experiences. The students…

Faculty and administrators often believe that abbreviated courses are less effective than the same courses taught during a full semester. This study examined student academic performance and course evaluations for identical courses taught during abbreviated summer sessions or during regular semester sessions. Contrary to popular convention,…

A comparison of half-day and full-day intervention programs for handicapped preschoolers evaluated students' scores on a developmental inventory and cost data. Results indicated no differences in the educational outcomes associated with length of day and showed that half-day programs served 60 percent more children than full-day programs with the…

Innovations in undergraduate medical education, such as integration of disciplines and problem based learning, have given rise to concerns about students' knowledge of anatomy. This article originated from several studies investigating the knowledge of anatomy of students at the eight Dutch medical schools. The studies showed that undergraduate…

Little is known about the payoffs to apprenticeship training in the German speaking countries for the participants. OLS estimates suggest that the returns are similar to those of other types of schooling. However, there is a lot of heterogeneity in the types of apprenticeships offered, and institutional descriptions suggest that there might be an…

The trend toward expanding the normal four-year teacher education program into a fifth year is discussed, and the University of Kansas extended program is described. A major criticism of the Kansas program was that a better analysis of educational needs should have preceded implementation of the lengthened teacher education program. (PP)

Proposals for three-year college degrees would affect African American students by making larger enrollments possible, but the negatives would outweigh the positives. Black students would be less likely than others to take advantage of the situation and costs would probably rise on a per-semester basis. (SLD)

An evaluation study assessed the effects of a one-year student teaching internship for juniors at the University of Southern Maine on student teachers' anxiety levels and their attitudes toward pupil control. Results were compared with those of a senior year, semester-long course in student teaching. (PP)

The aim of this paper is to identify the mechanisms that relate participation in programs established by Chapter 1 of the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act of 1981 to student achievement. It focuses on what happens to students in Chapter 1 programs and how their experiences affect their growth in academic achievement. The paper begins…

Students and faculty at the University of Arizona College of Medicine found the three-year medical program to be an unsatisfactory educational experience due to excessive intensity of classroom work, insufficient vacation time, and inadequate time to teach basic science. Measures of student performance showed no differences between three- and…

In a survey of faculty, five issues in which opinions were most diverse include: adequacy of program content, time available for faculty to do research, work demands on faculty, basic medical knowledge of three-year students, and quality of post-M.D. positions obtained by three-year graduates. (Author/LBH)