A collection of 27 syllabi for undergraduate and graduate courses on language and gender is presented. The syllabi come from a variety of departments, including linguistics, anthropology, English, French, German, and folklore. Special features of the collection include: syllabi for undergraduate and graduate courses; ideas for paper topics;…

The matched-guise technique uses recorded voices speaking first in one dialect or language, then in another. Listeners do not know that the speech samples are from the same person, but judge the two guises of the same speaker as two separate speakers. The technique has been used to investigate a variety of sociolinguistic, social-psychological,…

If parents, school personnel, or other caring adults want to reduce the number of stressors or the amount of stress experienced by school children, these adults must first recognize childhood stress, identify children's stressors, and evaluate the stress. This literature review reveals how adults can accomplish these goals by defining stress,…

Two studies evaluated a technique for combining perceptions family members have of their families into measures of the family as a unit. Study 1 tested the reliability of an individually administered measure of family support and affiliation created to serve as a basis for aggregated family indices. Two existing family-assessment methods were…

The University of Colorado, under contract with the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), is conducting a study of curriculum reform in science, mathematics, and higher order thinking across the disciplines. This paper provides some of the background for this research as well as information on the conceptual framework and design…

The California Assessment Collaborative (CAC) was designed as a three-year effort to identify, validate, and disseminate alternatives to standardized testing throughout the state. This report highlights the results from the first year and comments on the work of 22 diverse pilot projects that serve as examples of site-based development of…

This study attempted to develop a reliable and valid instrument for assessing work environment and continuous quality improvement efforts in the non-academic sectors of colleges and universities particularly those institutions who have adopted Total Quality Management programs. A model of a work environment for continuous quality improvement was…

One of the most frequently used indicators of the success of American schools is the graduation rate. There is a need, however, to track categories of school completers other than traditional diploma recipients; school reforms and stricter graduation requirements may influence how people attain a secondary education. This report contains…

This paper describes a methodology for the evaluation of dropout prevention programs, for calculating dropout rates, and for comparing alternative programs equitably. A first step involves developing a hierarchy of criteria for evaluating programs. These criteria are used to obtain dropout risk probability for individuals and groups and types of…

This study of student teachers' beliefs was conducted to track changes in their beliefs about teaching and examine the role of academic and practical experiences in modifying these beliefs. The primary focus of this paper is the evolution of methodology, with extracts from three case studies presented to illustrate the direction the research is…

Some steps to identify an initial set of indicators and to develop alternative indicator systems are outlined for educational evaluation and illustrated through the example of a National Science Foundation (NSF) study of mathematics and science education. The first step is to conceptualize potential indicators to specify a comprehensive monitoring…

The effects of prenotification, ink color, and return deadline on sincerity and rates of response to mailed questionnaires concerning desirable characteristics of teachers were investigated in Thailand. Questionnaires were mailed to 800 public secondary school teachers in Bangkok. Some teachers received prenotification of the survey by mail, while…

This study looked at the use of a computer-based voice-interactive language learning system (VOXBOX) for teaching English as a Second Language. The intention of the study was to determine whether students who used VOXBOX as an exclusive instructional method could do as well as or better than students who used non-computerized, teacher-directed…

Recent research casts doubt on the commonly held notions that administrators affect student learning through instructional leadership and that changing administrators will improve school performance. To help construct a model for examining the process of leader succession that specifies a number of major school process and outcome variables…

Abstracts of most of the papers presented at the 57th Annual Meeting of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST) have been collected in this publication. Papers focus on such areas as cognitive structure, development of scientific literacy in secondary schools, science teaching as a career, improving science teaching,…