Animated pedagogical agents (APAs) have the potential to provide one-on-one, just-in-time instruction, guidance or mentoring in classrooms where such individualized human interactions may be infeasible. Much current APA research focuses on a wide range of design variables tested with small samples or in laboratory settings, while overlooking…

In 2000, the California State Legislature passed the Schiff-Cardenas Crime Prevention Act, which authorized funding for county juvenile-justice programs and designated the Corrections Standards Authority (CSA) (formerly named the Board of Corrections) the administrator of funding. A 2001 California Senate bill extended the funding and changed the…

Efforts to develop interventions to improve homework performance have been impeded by limitations in the measurement of homework performance. This study was conducted to develop rating scales for assessing homework performance among students in elementary and middle school. Items on the scales were intended to assess student strengths as well as…

This report examines a Massachusetts pilot program for quarterly benchmark exams in middle-school mathematics, finding that program schools do not show greater gains in student achievement after a year. But that finding might reflect limited data rather than ineffective benchmark assessments. Benchmark assessments are used in many districts…

A study was done to evaluate Partners for Valued Youth (PVY), an instructional cross-age tutoring program in San Antonio (Texas) designed to reduce dropout rates among Hispanic limited-English proficient (LEP) middle-school children, who are at risk of leaving school. The program has these students tutor younger, elementary school students. The…

Middle schools are here to stay. The overriding purpose of middle-level education continues to be that of providing programs based on the unique characteristics, needs, and interests of middle-level students. (Author/TE)

Preadolescents are faced with a variety of pressures, but usually receive little help in stress management from the school. To examine the effects of relaxation training on rural middle school students (N = 532), researchers implemented a daily 15-minute program of relaxation training exercises on aduio tapes in the regular classroom setting. The…

The requirements of No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) has presented challenges for schools and districts across the United States such as a new need to focus on test scores and student achievement. While all states, districts, and schools face challenges that require them to adjust the structure and delivery of instruction in their schools,…

Nine years after the National Science Education Standards' release, just how well do science teachers in grades 5 to 8 actually use them to plan content, define improved teaching, and assess real learning? Find out the answers to these key questions in this groundbreaking collection of 15 essays by teachers, researchers, and professors whose…

This report investigates the effectiveness of a metacognitive strategy in reducing anger behavior and/or aggressive acts in elementary and secondary-aged students placed in special education classes. Three separate studies were conducted with three elementary, three middle, and three high school students who were placed in special education…

This is a checklist for use by science coordinators, school principals, science supervisors, and teachers in identifying strengths and weaknesses of science programs in grades five through eight. It can also be used by science coordinators during school visits. This guide contains space for recording information concerning: school name and…

More than 1,600 middle school students, including an experimental group exposed to the Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS), were administered the Modified Nature of Scientific Knowledge Scale. Results indicate that the students utilizing the traditional science curriculum possessed a significantly better understanding of the testable nature…

This is a checklist for use by science coordinators, school principals, science supervisors, and teachers in identifying strengths and weaknesses of science programs in grades kindergarten through 12. It can also be used by science coordinators during school visits. This guide contains space for recording information concerning: school name and…

This paper presents the results of an Achievement Directed Leadership (ADL) field test conducted at eight elementary schools and a middle school in an urban school district in New Jersey during the 1981-82 school year. The stated purpose of the field test was only secondarily to assess student outcomes; its major objective was to help principals…

Recent efforts of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) have encouraged research between university researchers and classroom science teachers. In 1987 a longitudinal teacher research partners study was begun by the Middle and Junior High Division of NSTA and The…