The School to Work Opportunities Act of 1994 (STWOA) qualifies as "historic" legislation for several reasons. STWOA is the first federal education legislation to declare that preparation for earning a living is a legitimate and important role of schooling for all students and the first education legislation to affirm that learning takes…

Data from the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) 1998 Reading Report Card show increased scores for low-performing students in the 4th and 8th grades in 1998 as compared to 1994, but no change at the 12th grade. Scores for low-performing students in the 8th grade were higher in 1998 than in either 1994 or 1992. Scores for…

Noting that it is by studying children's regular activities and their roles and interpersonal relationships that we come to understand how children develop as members of their cultural groups, this study examined children growing up in urban settings in a variety of societies. The study used an ecological perspective largely based on…

This report, from the National Association of College and University Business Officers' (NACUBO), is the nineteenth in a series of comparative data studies of public two-year colleges. A result of an intensive six-month study involving 252 community colleges, it contains financial and other statistics for fiscal year 1997-98. Report highlights…

This study examined the relationship between family structure, expenditures on education, and children's educational outcomes for black South Africans, using the nationally representative 1995 October Household Survey. The analyses focused on 28,215 individuals, ages 10 to 24 years, who had not completed secondary schools. The findings indicated…

This questionnaire study examined elementary school student's knowledge of a number of gender norms as well as some moral and social norms. Participating in the study were 111 first, third, and fifth graders, the majority of whom were white, with a small number of Hispanic and Asian children. The gender roles related to children's play, hair…

This paper proposes an automated, third party World Wide Web (WWW)-based evaluation service (i.e., an online questionnaire) that focuses on usability issues of WWW-based courseware and can be used by any WWW course instructor/student. Requirements related to the usability of educational systems are summarized, including the learning environment,…

Since 1995, community schools in the Netherlands have provided multiple interventions to improve student behavior and socioemotional functioning, improve the home educational environment, decrease risk behavior, decrease educational and physical disadvantages, and create opportunities for all children in a neighborhood. This study examined the…

Developed by classroom teachers during the development phase of Minnesota's Graduation Standards, this performance package is made up of locally designed assignments that, taken together, show whether a student has learned and can apply the knowledge and skills related to comprehending, interpreting, and evaluating information from a variety of…

This report is based on a test that was arranged in April and May of 1997 among first- and second-year students at Tallinn Pedagogical University who studied the Finnish language as a general subject and among the students of the eleventh and twelfth grades in some Estonian secondary schools. There were among 105 Estonians and 25 Russians among…

This report examines performance differences between Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White students in Delaware on the mathematics portion of the Third International Mathematics and Science Study-Repeat (TIMSS-R). Data analyses show that the mathematics performance gap across ethnic groups is significant. The lowest 100 Black and White performers were…

This qualitative study investigated differences, from the point of view of instructors, between teaching college courses over the Web versus in more traditional face-to-face formats. Twenty-one college instructors who had taught in both formats were interviewed. Four of the interviews were by telephone and 17 by e-mail. Interview fragments were…

This study investigated whether World Wide Web information resources for students with disabilities are accessible and whether there is an accessibility difference between Web sites from the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, and Canada as rated by the Bobby automatic accessibility tool. Thirty academic Web sites from each country were…

Noting that little is known about how the social environment affects academic achievement among groups of students, this study examined the associations among substance use, violent/delinquent behavior, and academic achievement in groups of middle and high school students. Data sources for middle school students were the 1998 Washington State…

This paper extends the previously reported findings of the Starting School Research Project in Australia as to what various stakeholders see as important in children's transition to school; the current study considers responses from parents, preschool educators, and school teachers to 20 statements summarizing beliefs and expectations about…