Summarizes findings of the Television Violence Study indicating that the context of much television violence is dangerous to viewers, perpetrators go unpunished in the majority of programs, negative consequences of violence are often ignored, guns feature prominently, and presentation of violence differs greatly across networks and across…

Studied reading comprehension demands in a seventh-grade social studies classroom to reveal existing classroom cultures and complexities surrounding expository text comprehension. Found that in the particular classroom, the textbook determined knowledge exploration and had a damaging pedagogical effect on the students' literacy practices.…

Discusses ways in which a teacher new to teaching ninth-grade English and new to the school district lured her "reluctant" readers into a true community of readers. Describes a trip to a local bookstore, building the reading community, writing in response to reading, graphic responses to reading, and oral responses to reading. (RS)

This study found that the responses of 40 institutionalized adults with moderate mental retardation to the tasks of discriminating emotions and expressing empathy were poor in contrast to those with mild mental retardation. Of individuals with mild mental retardation, those with no chronic challenging behaviors scored better than those with…

Simulated data are used to assess the appropriateness of using separate calibration and between-fit approaches to detecting item bias in the Rasch rating scale model. Results indicate that Type I error rates for the null distribution hold even when there are different ability levels for reference and focal groups. (SLD)

This article reviews aspects of normal affective development and the accompanying language of feelings, explains how children with behavioral and emotional problems diverge from normal patterns, and describes relevant intervention programs for early childhood and the primary and intermediate grades. (Author/JDD)

Maintains that both traditional and computerized scholars face problems when they attempt empirical research on women writers and women readers using currently available computational tools. Discusses factors that have inhibited empirical research and uses examples from research on 18th century English poetry. (CFR)

This study examined young children's sensitivity and positive responsiveness to their mothers' needs, using data on 90 preschoolers and their depressed and nondepressed mothers. The highest frequencies of caring behavior were from children with severely depressed mothers, problems in affect regulation, and secure attachment. Girls were found to be…

Two statistical approaches for adjusting grades were tested on data obtained from four American law schools (642 students). Neither item response theory nor the general linear model yielded consistent improvements in the predictive validity of Law School Admission Test scores and undergraduate grades for three schools. (SLD)

Examines attitudes and responses toward epilepsy among families of 31 epileptic Tewa children, utilization of modern health care services, and parent reluctance to discuss traditional beliefs and healing practices. Discusses models of chronic illness behavior and the inadequacies of Indian Health Service treatment of epileptic children. Contains…

It is proposed that market research needn't be formal but can be useful. Suggestions include using a variety of existing information sources; conducting focus groups; using readership surveys of school publications; paying attention to the timing of surveys; and sharing results with others who can use it. (MSE)

Excerpts from interviews are frequently used in this discussion of teachers' reactions to children with gay or lesbian parents and administrators' efforts to ensure that such children are accepted in their schools. Offers possible teacher responses to questions of children with gay or lesbian parents. (BB)

Phi Delta Kappa study collected data on over 21,000 students in grades 4, 7, and 10 in 275 schools in over 80 U.S. communities. Five risk factors emerged: personal pain, academic failure, family socioeconomic status, family instability, and family tragedy. Many teachers helped considerably with personal pain and academic failure problems,…

Reports a study which examined the effects of direct instruction on the think-aloud protocols of ninth grade readers. Students made think-aloud protocols on two stories before and after instruction. Although the instruction did not substantially affect students' interpretive operations in reading, some students were less submissive to the text.…

A model developed by G. Rasch that assumes scores on some attainment tests can be realizations of a Poisson process is explained and expanded by assuming a prior distribution, with fixed but unknown parameters, for the subject parameters. How additional between-subject and within-subject factors can be incorporated is discussed. (SLD)