This groundbreaking study is the first ever to examine the achievement of high-performing students over time "at the individual level". It poses--and seeks to answer--this straightforward question: Do students who outscore their peers on standardized achievement tests remain at the top of the pack year after year? Put differently, how many "high…

Assesses the complementary ability of childhood intelligence and learning-related behavior to explain variation in achievement outcomes. Results reveal substantial proportions of assigned grade variance explained primarily by learning behavior and achievement test score explained by intelligence. Implications for educational assessment and…

Assessed the effects of preschool education on achievement in primary school for 88 impoverished African American children and their families. Found that the positive effects of a preschool intervention program on intellectual development and academic achievement were maintained through age 12 and that school-age intervention alone was less…

Following several years of negative trends in achievement and attendance in the middle grades, the Cleveland Municipal School District began phasing out middle schools by restructuring 21 of its 80 K-5 elementary schools into K-8 schools. This study examined Cleveland's restructuring initiative in light of 2 theories on early adolescent…

This study investigated the relative freshman-year cognitive impacts of 2 historically black and 16 predominantly white colleges on black students. Of these institutions, 5 were 2-year institutions and the rest were 4-year colleges. The data were taken from a pool of 2,416 freshmen students who participated in the National Study of Student…

A study compared the changes in students with moderate mental retardation in two school settings (segregated and semi-integrated) in intellectual development, adaptive behavior, receptive language, and academic achievement. While both groups gained in some areas, greater gains were found in the semi-integrated population. (MSE)

Investigated the academic and intellectual performance of disadvantaged children who had experienced one of four types of prekindergarten program or no prekindergarten at all. IQ measures did not differ significantly among preschool program groups, but differential effects in the three grades, related to both preschool program and sex, were noted…

Describes criteria for authentic intellectual achievement in social studies, as well as the assessment and instruction tasks necessary to achieve these criteria. Emphasizes the importance of the construction of knowledge, disciplined inquiry, and the development of qualities of reasoning that have value outside school. (MJP)

Educational leaders can take specific steps to improve academic achievement during college, including increasing and improving student-faculty interaction; providing an integrated, mind-opening general education core curriculum; promoting student extracurricular activity; encouraging students to live on campus; and permitting individualized course…

Discusses two methods for developing and assessing fluid abilities. In the first method, students are asked to solve increasingly unfamiliar problems in a domain; and in the second, students are required to organize knowledge in new ways or view it from different perspectives. (SLD)

This study investigated the relative freshman-year cognitive impacts of five two-year and six four-year colleges and universities drawn from all sections of the United States. The overall sample was 2,685 freshmen students participating in a national longitudinal study and of these the final sample contained 811 students, 280 attending five…

This monograph is part of the League for Innovation's learning initiative aimed at assisting community colleges in developing practices, programs, and policies that place learning at the heart of the educational enterprise. It highlights key innovations in the community colleges, distilling key elements from research on learning outcomes, the…

International educators in general, and study abroad advisors in particular, have recognized for many years that United States college students returning from studying abroad show positive changes. According to their impressionistic perceptions, international educators often identify improvements in terms of concern about international affairs,…

The effect of student-faculty interaction on student outcomes after four years was examined within the context of a causal model adapted from a general college impact model. This model includes three sets of variables: students' background characteristics, four aspects of student-faculty interaction, and four categopies of outcomes. The four…

The 14 chapters of this book review and synthesize research on the influence of college on students. Chapter 1 provides a detailed discussion of the evolution of research on college outcomes as an area of study, outlines the conceptual framework that guided the review, and provides a general overview of the study. Chapter 2 summarizes the major…