Structural equation models reanalyzed data from the 1969 Westinghouse Head Start evaluation and extended the analysis to blacks and full-year programs. Results showed that the selection bias for summer program whites was absent for blacks and full-year program whites, and that Head Start helped the most disadvantaged children. (SLD)

Discusses ethical dilemma in early childhood education as identified by kindergarten and elementary school teachers. Investigates these dilemmas within the theoretical framework of moral relevance and moral conflict. Reveals that ethical dilemmas in early childhood education are relational and deal with competing interpretations of the best…

A study of five high-poverty districts making strides in improving student achievement revealed that these districts focused on systemwide strategies including new approaches to professional development; making decisions based on data, not instinct; and redefining leadership roles. (MLF)

Discusses how schools can avoid mistakes in building their school-improvement plans. The two most common mistakes are (1) using measures of student learning that are not sensitive to the actual learning occurring, and (2) having no system for interpreting and using the data. (Contains 1 figure and 11 references.) (WFA)

Discusses data warehousing, which provides information more fully responsive to local, state, and federal data needs. Such a system allows educators to generate reports and analyses that supply information, provide accountability, explore relationships among different kinds of data, and inform decision-makers. (Contains one figure and eight…

An overview of the evaluation issues associated with contraceptive social marketing programs is provided. Methodologies covered include survey techniques, cost-effectiveness analyses, retail audits of sales data, time series analysis, nested logit analysis, and discriminant analysis. (TJH)

Examines applications of microcomputers and television to global education. Provides suggestions for developing an understanding of basic formats of data collection and analysis, and for using databases to understand the organization of information. Recommends the use of interactive television to develop a global perspective. (LS)

Reports on a study of the beliefs held by students, parents, and teachers regarding desirable schooling and teaching in grades one to eight in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Examines the combined use of qualitative and quantitative research methodologies; rationales and procedures of naturalistic and rationalistic inquiry; and implications for research in…

In order to determine how situational variables influence students when they evaluate an instructor, the individual student as the unit of analysis was used. Interactions between three variables related to class (type, level, and size) and three related to instructor (reputation, rank, and sex) were examined. (Author/MLW)

Uses a graphing calculator to predict the record for running a mile, throwing a shot put, and high jumping for any year in the future and the probable record for any year before statistics were kept, based on the statistical analysis of prior records. Data tables and a computer program are provided. (MDH)

Examines the effects of an imposed schema on the reader's comprehension of a text. Both a correct and a false schema were imposed on the subjects in the form of comprehension questions geared to one of two points of view. Subjects were 177 English-as-a-foreign-language university students. The implications for teachers of reading comprehension are…

Reports on three studies of the learning strategies of adult students of second languages. The research identified two distinct approaches to vocabulary learning that differed in aspects relating to independent study, self-initiated learning activities, recording of lexical items studied, review of these records, and practice of vocabulary outside…

Presents four sets of activities to develop the concepts of data analysis and graphing. Students estimate sample populations using beans, examine graphs from newspapers and magazines, predict the most popular color of cars, and simulate quality control in a manufacturing process. (MDH)

Examines what linguistic devices speakers use to make an entity salient in a discourse and how they re-refer to discourse entities moving in and out of focus. Speakers' center of attention was manipulated via a videotaped basketball game. Speakers referred to prominent entities as subjects; when they referred to them as objects, they repeated the…

Presents five activities for the family and K-2, 4-3, 5-6, and 7-8 levels that focus on the connection between mathematics and music. Activities examine the mathematical concepts of counting, estimation, measurement, statistics, fractions, and patterns involved in the topics of rhythm, beats in a measure, music preference, the music scale, and…