Using newly released detailed data on absence from school, we find a 'Friday effect'--children are much less likely to attend schools in England on Fridays. We use daily level data across the whole of England and find that this pattern holds for different schools and for different types of absence, including illness-related authorised and…

Videoconferencing tools, like Skype, etc., are being increasingly used in language education worldwide. Despite assumed socio-affective and pedagogical benefits of using webcams in synchronous online language lessons, such as the feeling of co-presence or the possibilities of non-verbal communication, little is known about attitudes held by…

The present study reports data from a large-scale foreign language proficiency assessment to explore trends across a large urban school district. These data were used in conjunction with data from teacher and student questionnaires to make recommendations for foreign language programs across the district. This evaluation process resulted in…

Innatism is the belief that most of the human personality can be determined by genes. This ideology is dangerous, especially when it claims to be scientific. The present study investigates conceptions of 1060 students from Estonia and France related to genetic determinism of some human behaviours. Factors taken into account included students'…

This paper reports on early findings from a pilot study into student retention beyond Year 10. Located in rural, regional and disadvantaged communities in Tasmania, the research has implications at State, national and international levels. It is being funded by a nationally competitive Australian Research Council Linkage grant and the Tasmanian…

Background: The implementation of service-learning as a teaching and learning method has been well grounded in education, yet the discipline of physical education teacher education (PETE) has been slow to establish itself in this experiential learning paradigm. This study examined the role that service-learning plays in teacher candidates'…

The "APA Educational Psychology Handbook" reflects the broad nature of the field today, with state-of-the-science reviews of the diverse critical theories driving research and practice; in-depth investigation of the range of individual differences and cultural/contextual factors that affect student achievement, motivation, and beliefs;…

It was the purpose of this study to investigate some concomitants of reported drug usage among public school students. (Author)

Reports on a decline in fraternity membership, which is ascribed to changing demographics, bad publicity about alcohol abuse and hazing incidents, and changing student values. Graphs illustrate fraternity membership trends at six universities, including 10-year comparisons in membership, academic performance, and pledges; and average number of men…

This report summarizes a study of citizenship and social studies attitudes and knowledge conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The survey of citizenship was conducted during the 1968-69 and 1969-70 school years; the survey of social studies was administered during the 1971-72 school year. During the school year 1975-76,…

This report presents national normative data on the major trends and characteristics of 1.6 million students attending American colleges and universities as first-time, full-time freshmen. The normative data are reported separately for men and for women and for 35 different institutional groupings. Among the findings are the following: (1) student…

The effect of social studies instruction on students' attitudes toward school and society for two years is analyzed. The social studies variables examined for their influence on the trends across time for nine attitudes were the number of social studies semesters, the extent of controversial issues treatment, treatment of more than one side of…

This report summarizes trends identified in 25 years of the Cooperative Institutional Research Program's annual surveys of college freshmen. It documents an array of demographic, attitudinal, and social changes involving students entering the nation's colleges since the survey's inception in 1966. Major findings from this report point to…

This document contains 11 papers on researching service learning through a multidisciplinary lens. The following papers are included: "Introduction" (Shelley H. Billig, Andrew Furco); "Stretching to Meet the Challenge: Improving the Quality of Research to Improve the Quality of Service-Learning" (Janet Eyler);…