Although over 77 percent of American school districts use ability grouping, or tracking, research overwhelmingly indicates that the practice benefits only the gifted. High schools commonly have two or three tracks. Regardless of the methods used to place students, the effects of ability grouping are uniform; furthermore, placement in low ability…

The Consortium for Longitudinal Studies was formed to answer the question of whether early education programs have measurable long term effects on the performance of children from low income families. Every early intervention study that had a specific curriculum, focused on children from low income families, was completed prior to l969, and had an…

This study is part of a larger study of teachers' use of curriculum materials in planning and teaching fifth-grade science. The study focused on one of nine teachers observed teaching "Communities," an activity-based unit from the SCIIS science program (a revision of the original Science Curriculum Improvement Study).…

A program was designed for training secondary school trainee teachers in expressive nonverbal behavior and for assessing the effect of various combinations of different training elements. The program was developed on the basis of nonverbal descriptors of "enthusiastic teaching": vocal delivery, eyes, facial expression, gestures, and eye contact…

Computer assisted instruction (CAI) significantly improved the math skills of elementary school children, according to the results of an experiment conducted by the Pasco (Washington) School District. The experiment was designed to determine whether CAI would improve student math performance and whether CAI would improve math performance more than…

A study of K-12 rural school districts enrolling 900 students or fewer in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona used data gathered during the 1981-82 academic year. These data were compared with those from a nationwide survey using the same questionnaire. Qualifying districts were identified: 626 in Texas (56.9% of all Texas public school districts,…

This report is based on data from the 1979, 1980 and 1981 waves of the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth Labor Market Experience. These data were collected for a nationally representative sample of 12,686 youth in 1979, 12,141 in 1980 and 12,195 in 1981. This report contains four analytical chapters. Chapter One investigates those…

Desegregation in elementary schools in Springfield, Massachusetts, must be rated a success. Implementation of the desegregation program, which became a reality in 1974, was successful because of the following factors: strong leadership from the superintendent; support of the mayor and the school committee (in spite of their opposition to mandatory…

Project Effective Transition of the Bilingual and Bicultural Student to Senior High School (ETBBS) at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, New York, provided additional administrative and instructional staff in order to offer instructional services to 165 foreign born students, mostly from Puerto Rico and Haiti. The program was designed to…

This report reviews issues and previous empirical studies surrounding prediction of educational attainment, preparation for college, college aptitude assessment, and prediction of achievement in college for Hispanic students residing in the United States. First, a demographic overview of Hispanics, concentrating on population size, ethnic subgroup…

To gather longitudinal student achievement data from schools utilizing the four-day week, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) grade equivalent scores were obtained in 1984 from five rural Colorado school districts for four consecutive years--two years prior to and two years following the districts' change to the shortened week. A first analysis…

Intended for students taking the English 30 Grade 12 Diploma Examinations in Alberta, Canada, this test booklet contains the composition component of the June 1988 tests. During 2.5 hours, students are required to perform the following writing tasks: (1) a personal response to an excerpt from Annie Dillard's "Teaching a Stone to Talk"…

This report on the effectiveness of Shelby State Community College's (SSCC) Academic and Developmental Services (A/D) Program consists primarily of statistical tables that describe three cohorts of full- and part-time students; i.e., those currently enrolled students who entered the college in fall 1985, 1986, or 1987. Data are presented on basic…

In response to the urgent national need to revitalize mathematics and science education, the National Research Council (NRC) has undertaken an examination of mathematics education from kindergarten through graduate study. Major studies are being conducted for the NRC, and this book, as a public preface to the work, outlines the seriousness of the…

A course of study was researched, designed, and implemented by the writer to learn mathematics apprehensions of fifth grade students. The primary goal was to reduce mathematics apprehension through positive mathematics experiences at home as well as in school. The objectives of the program were to develop a more positive feeling about mathematics…