Collected data from 2,720 Hong Kong junior high school students and obtained teachers' reports about students' academic achievement, ability grouping, and the classes' ability level. Results revealed no significant detrimental effect caused by the ability-grouped class and the ability level of the ability-grouped class. Students in classes that…

The use of illustrations in relation to text characteristics and instructional conditions was studied. Seventh-grade students recalled information from transfer passages of texts varying in their level of dependence on illustrations. Texts and passages were read under four instructional conditions. Results are discussed. (Authors/CJ)

Surveys examined junior high schoolers' psychosocial characteristics and self-reports of deviant behavior, investigating links between self-derogation in school and academic failure mediated by a disposition to deviate from conventional expectations. Academic failure was in part motivated behavior that was an adaptation to previous self-devaluing…

Examined the effects of mothers' negative junior high school experiences on their childrens' junior high school experiences. Mothers first tested in 1971 were subsequently interviewed in the 1990s, along with their children. Results revealed a significant relationship between mothers' negative school experiences and those of their children, which…

The authors sought to understand the types of parent involvement that teachers, parents, and students believe affect the academic achievement of adolescent learners at the junior high school level. Research that included focus groups, interviews, and surveys indicated that teachers and students believed that parent involvement at school was…

Eighth graders (N=85) participated in a study that manipulated the content and form of students' lecture notes. Matrix notes were found to be relatively effective for learning concepts. Girls recorded a greater number of notes than boys on tests involving recall and recognition of factual items. (IAH)

Achievement test scores and ratings of 2,368 13-year-old students who participated in the 1977-78 National Assessment of Educational Progress were analyzed. Achievement was significantly associated with attitudes, sex, ethnicity, parents' education, verbal opportunities in the home, and frequency of mathematical practice. (Authors/CJ)

Compared the effects of three cooperative-learning environments on Israeli seventh graders' mathematical problem solving (metacognitive training, direct strategy instruction, and neither). Pencil-and-paper testing assessed students' problem-solving abilities. Results indicated that students exposed to metacognitive training significantly…

According to a study of 387 fifth-through ninth- grade students, distraction is a situationally influenced phenomenon, and students actively think about their study environments. A high percentage of students study with radio or television on, although it appears that these distractors should be removed from the ideal study environment.…

An investigation of the effect of the direction of search on the problem-solving performance of junior high school algebra students reveals a relationship between the number of correct responses and solution time to the number of possible "blind alleys" and memory load. (Editor/LH)

Reports a study that examined whether a collaborative peer tutoring program would improve urban seventh graders' self- concept and attitudes toward school. Pretesting and posttesting indicated that students in the collaborative peer tutoring program demonstrated significant improvements in self-concept and attitudes toward school as compared with…

The influences of writing tasks and gender on the quality of student writing of black and white eighth graders were examined. Data from statewide writing assessments of 170,899 Georgia students indicated both writing tasks and student characteristics were significant predictors of writing quality. There were both racial and gender differences. (SM)

This study investigated relationships between student practice and achievement in physical education for subgroups of students based on initial skill level and gender. Students were pretested, received instruction, then posttested on certain volleyball skills. Researchers viewed and coded videotapes. Subgroup analyses provided greater information…

Examined relationships between the way middle-school physical educators structured practice tasks and the amount of practice students received. Analysis of videotapes of eight teachers and their students during two class periods indicated that skill level, task structure, and practice were related. Task organization related to both the quantity…

This study examined the effects of activity or passivity on children's ability to remember and identify word pairs. Results are discussed, and implications are developed. (Author/MT)