Because of concern about the harmful effects of placing children in low reading groups, this study tested the following "sacred cows" in reading: (1) the use of informal reading inventories for grouping children in reading instruction, (2) the homogeneous grouping practices currently utilized in most classrooms in the United States, (3)…

Second grade good readers (N=46) and fourth grade good and poor readers (N=46; N=48) were subjects in a study that examined linguistic cue usage by good and poor readers in a Southern metropolitan area. A secondary purpose was to compare the standard and phoneme cloze procedures with oral miscue analysis. The subjects were identified as good or…

This collection of conference papers includes: "When Does Teacher Talk Work as Input?"; "Cultural Input in Second Language Learning"; "Skilled Variation in a Kindergarten Teacher's Use of Foreigner Talk"; "Teacher-Pupil Interaction in Second Language Development"; "Foreigner Talk in the University…

Results of a survey of student affairs staff at the University of California, (UC) Davis, are presented, with attention to different perceptions and experiences of male and female staff. A total of 309 staff (nurses, counselors, police, secretaries, administrators, and computer programmers) returned the Student Affairs Staff Survey, for a response…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 27 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) syntax in the writing of learning disabled and normal children; (2) tropes, invention, and the composing process; (3) speaking and writing relationships in…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The 25 titles deal with a variety of topics, including the following: (1) superior-subordinate communication; (2) the effect of freedom of expression on role satisfaction; (3) the effects of certain risk factors on nurses'…

The results of a survey which studied the attitudes and characteristics of Catholic youth and their parents and then compared these with the attitudes and characteristics of non-Catholic youth are presented. A total of 1,130 students in grades 5-8 from 13 Catholic schools, 613 mothers, and 352 fathers completed survey questionnaires. The data…

This paper reports on two comprehensive multi-institutional collaborative efforts for school improvement. The two studies demonstrate that collaborative efforts involving multiple agencies and multiple agendas can be successful even when separated by considerable geographical distance. The school systems were concerned with implementing a locally…

Using a series of regression equations, classroom process and student achievement data from 136 junior high school mathematics and English classes were analyzed to answer the following questions: (1) Are the classroom behaviors and achievement levels of students systematically different across classes of higher and lower ability? (2) Within…

A study examined whether patterns exist in the kinds and amounts of writing errors students make and whether teachers follow any sort of pattern in correcting these errors. Sixty compositions, gathered from a twelfth grade class taught by one teacher, were analyzed using the "McGraw-Hill Handbook of English." Student written errors were…

A study examined bilingual children's composing behaviors during classroom writing and their perceptions of writing. Students' descriptions of what occurred in their day-to-day environment were analyzed using ethnographic methods. The researcher observed five subjects--bilingual students in kindergarten through third grade--for 145 hours, and…

A collection of 22 chapters on capital campaigns is presented to provide: resource for both veterans and newcomers; technical information for fund-raising professionals and key volunteers; and a record of all aspects of current thinking on the capital campaign. Chapter titles and authors are as follows: "What Is a Capital Campaign in Today's…

Communicative behavior conveys two messages: (1) content, and (2) how the recipient of the communication is to behave with regard to the content, or "relational communication." How the recipient responds to relational communication defines what form the relationship will take--either complementary or symmetrical. In a complementary…

A review of the status of English language instruction in Poland begins with an overview of the role of English in the society in general, and outlines the status of English use and instruction in the educational system at all levels (elementary, secondary, higher, adult, and teacher), the characteristics and training of English language…

Two categories of elementary-secondary data collected by the National Center on Education Statistics (NCES) are discussed: teacher data, and school finance data. Current NCES practices and their limitations are discussed, additional data needs for research and policymaking are identified, and modifications for data collection are suggested.…