A social studies achievement test made up of items rewritten in simplified language was compared with a test containing the same items in their original form by administering the two tests to the entire 8th grade class of a suburban junior high school near Baltimore. The results showed only slightly higher scores for students taking the simplified…

In contemporary reading comprehension tests, abilities which may have little to do with reading ability can have a great effect on test scores. Reading tests are not constructed so that they maximize abilities unique to reading. On the other hand, tests on other language skills do not minimize what is unique to reading. Comprehension is the…

This report provides a description and evaluation of two school programs in New York City. The programs are English as a Second language at P.S. 152, and the Early Identification Program at P.S. 139. Both were planned with the participation of the principal, the parents, and the school district staff. The first program was designed to supplement…

Presented is a report on a cross-sectional and longitudinal study concerned with the course of intellectual development in 210 children (6-12 years old) educationally designated as brain damaged (learning disabled and/or behavior problems) and assigned to special school placement. The report is divided into four sections which focus on…

The self serving effect (SSE), the tendency to accept responsibility for one's own successes but not failures, was examined in three studies with adolescents. Results showed individual differences in SSE size were logically related to differences in: (1) academic self-concepts; (2) academic self-concepts inferred by significant others; and (3)…

One of the major goals in deaf education is to teach deaf and hard of hearing students the tools and strategies to solve mathematical word problems. A mathematical word problem curriculum was designed and implemented based on telling, reading and writing number tales in American Sign Language (ASL) and English. The learning experiences helped…

Sixty-five first graders from various sociocultural backgrounds and their parents/caregivers participated in a study designed to look at the relationship between home literacy environments and children's motivations for reading. Each child completed a Motivations for Reading interview, and parents of all children were interviewed regarding their…

Leading educational psychologists address problems in adult development and learning in this book. "What Does Educational Psychology Know about Adult Learning and Development?" (M. Cecil Smith, Thomas Pourchot) is the introduction. "We Learn, Therefore We Develop" (Nira Granott) tackles the problem of distinguishing between…

Looks at the lives of two well-known writers to explore how diverse experiences produce literate adults. Discusses Agatha Christie and Jack London who used reading and writing to earn a living and to gain international reputations. (MG)

Describes study of undergraduate teacher education majors which was designed to examine the function of text density level (high, low, or learner controlled) and various learner characteristics in learning from expository text in computer based instruction (CBI). Selection of print media versus CBI is discussed, pretests and posttests are…

Examines the theoretical and research perspectives (including metacognition, schema theory, and text structure) related to the direct instruction of comprehension at the college level for developmental readers. Concludes that many such strategies are not grounded in solid research bases and recommends that future research focus on the…

Presents a diagnostic teaching unit in general science designed to identify effective learning strategies for seventh-grade students with learning disabilities or behavior disorders. The unit is intended to identify effective strategies for students in reading comprehension, mathematics problem solving, and memory. Detailed instructions for four…

The sensitivity of two curriculum-based measurement procedures, maze (a modified cloze procedure), and oral reading, were evaluated with six students with mental retardation and concomitant emotional/behavioral disorders. Although teacher acceptability of the two procedures was equal, ideographic comparisons revealed oral reading fluency to be a…

Research with ESL students studying at North American universities has indicated that Chinese students have difficulties in understanding academic lectures, taking notes, writing assignments, and giving presentations although they have obtained high TOEFL scores. The study investigates their English academic listening challenges as reported by…

Success at university depends to a large extent on students' ability to read expository texts effectively in order to access and understand information, and study it for exam purposes. An important component of the comprehension process is the reader's ability to connect current information with information mentioned previously. One aspect of this…