This study aimed at establishing if the level of performance of 500 Jamaican Grade 11 students on an achievement test on the concept of respiration was satisfactory (mean = 28 or 70% and above) or not (less than 70%); if there were statistically significant differences in their performance on the concept linked to their gender, cognitive abilities…

The Atlantic and Pacific coasts are the boundaries of Lyme disease with the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the United States continuing to report the majority of cases. New reported cases of Lyme disease doubled from 1991 to 2001 according to statistics published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2002). Within that…

Demographic and personality variables and computer use were used to predict computer self-confidence with a sample of students enrolled in online college-credit classes. Computer self-confidence was measured with one 10-choice question. Demographic variables included age, annual income, geographic region, gender, and ethnicity. Computer use was…

As teachers' roles evolve in technology-enhanced language learning (TELL), choices of technological devices and instructional delivery and the degree of foreign language (FL) teacher facilitation within TELL activities are prominent. This investigation compared 53 beginning college French students' comprehension of FL video in a teacher-assisted…

The concept of self-efficacy is based on the triadic reciprocality model symbolising a relationship between: (a) personal factors i.e. cognition, emotion, and biological events (b) behaviour, and (c) environmental factors (Maddux, 1995). Cognition, emotion and behaviour are the domains of personality which form the basis of research in…

Collective teacher efficacy (CTE) refers to the collective perception that teachers in a given school make an educational difference to their students over and above the educational impact of their homes and communities. Significant positive relationships were found between CTE and student achievement on the grade 8 math, writing, and English…

A longstanding issue in American education is the gap in academic achievement between majority and minority students. The goal of this study is to accumulate and evaluate evidence on the relationship between state education policies and changes in the Black-White achievement gap, while addressing some of the methodological issues that have led to…

Objective: To examine provider and type variation in social support (SS) for activity. Methods: Three hundred sixty-three fifth to eighth-grade students completed a questionnaire assessing self-reported activity and social support (SS) from 3 providers: mom, dad, and peers. Important covariates of activity were included in the analysis: age, BMI,…

The author examines the relationship between accountability and militarization of urban US schools and social and economic processes in cities. The focus is the role of education policies in the production of inequality and racial oppression in the context of a new geography of centrality and marginality in world cities. This analysis is developed…

This study examined whether children's psychosocial self-evaluations mediated the relationship between general academic self-concept and self-reported depression. Self-evaluations in three psychosocial domains were assessed: General self-worth, intellectual ability, and social acceptance. Results indicated three significant findings. First, a…

Over a 4-year period, researchers measured several outcomes in 5 school districts initiating or enhancing character education programs. Based on student, teacher, and administrator surveys, there was a noticeable improvement in character-related behavior. In certain districts, suspension and drop-out rates also decreased after the implementation…

Objective: To study how early father involvement and children's biobehavioral sensitivity to social contexts interactively predict mental health symptoms in middle childhood. Method: Fathers' involvement in infant care and maternal symptoms of depression were prospectively ascertained in a community-based study of child health and development in…

The 1993 Illinois Goal Assessment Program (IGAP) Reading Tests measured reading comprehension using both narrative and expository reading passages. Noticeable differences in mean scaled scores occurred depending on whether the 1993 results were equated back to the 1992 narrative test or the 1993 expository test (Hsu and Ackerman, 1994). In an…

In this paper, we analysed teachers' characteristics described in the literature on classroom media use to identify those factors, which can explain teachers' use of new media in classrooms with some degree of validity. Using this literature as a basis, in this paper we develop a theoretical model which describes both positive and negative…

This annotated bibliography lists materials dealing specifically with the problems inherent in teaching English as a second language to South Pacific students. Some generic materials are included because of their relevance to that student group. The materials include books, research studies, journal and newsletter articles, conference and workshop…