The public narrative surrounding efforts to improve low-performing K-12 schools in the United States has been notably gloomy. But what is known empirically about whether school improvement works, which policies are most effective, which contexts respond best to intervention, and how long it takes? We meta-analyze 141 estimates from 67 studies of…

Efforts to support children in schools require addressing not only academic issues, but also out-of-school factors that can affect students' ability to succeed. This study examined academic achievement of students participating in City Connects, a student support intervention operating in high-poverty elementary schools. The sample included 7,948…

Pictorial conditional reasoning test items which were varied according to principle of inference and type of content were administered to three groups of educably mentally retarded children. Results revealed that retardates' reasoning strategies were congruent with those reported for younger normals in previous studies. (Author/JKS)

This study replicates findings of a study reported by Anderson et al. (EJ 184 138). Interpretation of ambiguously worded paragraphs was related to sex and college major. Titles on the paragraphs reduced ambiguity, although some students still gave an interpretation that was not consistent with the title. (Author/CP)

Multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant relationship between student ratings of instruction and curriculum area but not between ratings and course format. The technical and practical ramifications of these findings are discussed. (Author/JKS)

Support for the contention that the empirical specification of the Piagetian concept of reversibility during training is not a requirement for conservation induction is presented in this experimental study. (Author/JKS)

Effects of cooperative, individualistic, and laissez-faire goal structures were compared on interpersonal interaction between nonhandicapped junior high school students and high trainable mentally retarded peers. More positive interactions took place between the nonhandicapped and handicapped students in the cooperative condition than in the other…

Factorial modeling is justified as a method for analyzing correlations in support of causal inference. The method is illustrated and compared to path analysis, LISREL-type analysis, canonical correlation, and commonality analysis. Predictions of impacts of policy manipulations are demonstrated. (Author/CP)

The degree to which cognitive mediation interacts with vocabulary ability to influence the recall of different verbal units was investigated with a sample of 64 elementary school children. Results are interpreted with respect to the influence of vocabulary ability on school learning. (Author/JKS)

Contrary to Anderson (EJ 187 936), his rule for equation identification is a necessary but not sufficient condition; furthermore, the choice of two-stage or ordinary least squares depends on results and not on methodological properties of estimators. Modification of Anderson's rule and a means for choosing between estimates is offered. (Author/CP)

Providing contextual aids to help students reduce mutual interference between two sentences was studied. When students were presented sentences in distinctive contexts, no interference was observed. An interference effect was obtained when sentences were given in either no context or a nondistinctive context. (MH)

The judges usefulness and objectivity of a simulated evaluation report and client agreement with the report's recommendations were examined as functions of the evaluator's simulated professional background and the client's status, Apparently, source and audience characteristics influence client ratings of the evaluator but do not effect changes in…

Dominant features of the rhetoric used in the "American Educational Research Journal" (AERJ) are discussed to illustrate how arguments are constructed and how a conception of the world of education is formed. These features include conventions of format; impersonalized and passive sentence constructions; and references to prior research.…

Artificial cumulative folders were constructed for eight fourth grade boys and examined by teachers. Each folder contained varied information on previous misbehavior, race, and parents' educational attainment. Results showed that teachers were most influenced by comments concerning behavior when judging whether the student needed special…

Teachers' perceptions of personal classroom control with high- and low-ability students were examined, using five hypothetical classroom contexts. Results indicated that high ability students were perceived as more controllable than low-ability students, and teacher-initiated interactions as providing more control than student-initiated…