The National Science Foundation is sponsoring 26 Statewide Systemic Initiative Projects to promote innovative curricula for teaching mathematics and science. A plan for evaluating and assessing systemic change has been designed and implemented at one of them in Puerto Rico. The perspective used to guide this paper is based on the principles that…

In the 1994-95 academic year, the Southeast Campus of Tulsa Junior College, in Oklahoma, conducted a survey of new students to determine differences in educational perceptions and expectations based upon the educational background of the students' parents. Questionnaires were distributed to all incoming students, with 1,579 completed…

This report is based on the second survey in the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 series (NELS:88). Data are from a questionnaire administered to 20,706 tenth graders and dropouts in 1990. The study design resulted in a sample representative of tenth graders across the country. The wealth of NELS:88 data makes it difficult to organize…

This study focused on identifying factors that would enhance the probability of college attendance among African-American students. These factors included parental involvement, high school curriculum track, the prestige of one's life goal, socioeconomic status, and amount of television viewing. Data were drawn from a random selection of 1,394…

This issue of the newsletter "Transition" focuses on young families and the problems they face. The newsletter contains book reviews, descriptions of upcoming events, and articles covering various aspects of young families. Articles are: (1) "Taking the Plunge" (Deidre Yukich), focusing on one woman's family planning decisions;…

While the publication of school report cards and profiles is common in a number of states, their contents and formats vary as they represent the concerns and initiatives of policymakers. Over recent years, several studies have been made of school report cards and profiles. In this investigation, the focus is a comparison of report cards and…

Two case studies are presented here to highlight the importance of identifying cultural giftedness in language-minority children who are monolingual Spanish or bilingual Spanish dominant with low English proficiency. In one study, the child was monolingual, Spanish-dominant and culturally or non-verbally gifted; in the other, the child was an…

This Kids Count report examines statewide trends in the well-being of Idaho's children. The statistical portrait is based on 15 indicators of child and family well-being: (1) poverty; (2) single parent families; (3) infant mortality; (4) low birth weight babies; (5) percent of all mothers not receiving adequate prenatal care; (6) mothers ages…

While many children across North Dakota enjoy positive life circumstances which support their healthy growth and development, many others do not. This Kids Count fact book presents a statistical portrait of the condition of North Dakota children from prenatal through adolescent stages of development, based on key indicators. These indicators…

This paper offers an overview and analysis of the status of teaching as an occupation and of teacher development in the United States. An opening section describes the development of the industrial-based education model that has been in place for this century and the reform movements that have started in the past two decades. A section on the…

This study demonstrates that the validity and usefulness of mathematics achievement tests can be improved by defining psychologically meaningful subscores that yield differential relations with student, teacher, and school variables. The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) 8th- and 10th-grade math tests were subjected to full…

A longitudinal study was conducted to determine the short-term (2-year), intermediate (5-year), and long-term (10-year) impact of earning a high school equivalency diploma by taking the General Educational Development (GED) Tests in Iowa. The random sample of 2,500 GED graduates was drawn from each time cohort (individuals who had passed the GED…

This document suggests ways in which Canadian organizations in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors can approach the development of policies that are supportive of families. The document is organized into 4 chapters. The first chapter describes changes that have occurred in Canadian Families in the last 50 years. Twelve charts depict data…

In the first phase of a longitudinal study to gather information on quality-of-life outcomes of adult basic education (ABE) programs in Tennessee, adults entering literacy programs at eight sites in rural and urban Tennessee were interviewed using a baseline questionnaire covering socioeconomic, social, personal, and physical well-being. One year…

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…