This study examined the importance of several parental factors in shaping the outcome of a behavioral treatment program for children with autism based on the work of O. Ivar Lovaas. The Lovaas approach remediates behavior problems through the redesign of the household environment. Respondents to a questionnaire sent to 18 families were 3 mothers…

Group differences based on giftedness and achievement were examined in acquisition and generalization of a strategy for solving verbal and figural analogies. The strategy involved making a sentence that captured the relationship between a pair of words and then applying that sentence to a third item. A total of 162 high-achieving gifted,…

As part of its "America 2000" strategy for education reform, the Bush Administration has proposed the authorization of "merit schools" grants to elementary and secondary schools based on their performance. Questions associated with the merit school concept include the treatment of private schools, consideration of schools'…

This study examined two approaches to self-instruction by hearing-impaired students through use of instructor-developed science modules. Subjects were 24 students (ages 18-28) enrolled in allied health programs at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. The first approach involved the reading of science modules and writing answers on study…

The study examined the efficacy of familiarity and positive verbal reinforcement in improving intelligence test scores of 48 third-graders who were low scorers on a previous test. The Quick Test was used to screen subjects, with a 90 IQ score being the criterion for inclusion in the study. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four groups. The…

Educational technologies, specifically computer and the Internet technologies, have apparently become powerful tools in the classroom as they change the way we teach and learn today. That is why pedagogies of school reform are now highly influenced by and built around the "constructivist" theories of learning, assuming the use of…

The cooperative extension service faces various changes in society that will affect its funding, programming methodology, and mission over the next five years. Most of the changes have begun to occur and to have an impact on extension and university outreach. This study utilizes a literature review, primary data analysis, and personal experience…

This study investigated the behavioral responses of eight children to five alternate lesson types. Barker's assertion of the coercive nature of setting was examined. Questions addressed were: (1) Do children having the same or similar lessons behave asimilarly or differently? (2) Do children change their patterns of behavior as they move from one…

The effects of race and sex on the scholastic performance of university freshmen were studied in a stratified random sample of 100 subjects obtained from 1,439 freshmen at a state university. There were 20 white males, 20 white females, 20 black males, and 20 black females, and 10 males and 10 females from other ethnic groups. A three by two…

The Pre-Professional Skills Test (PPST) and the National Teacher Examinations (NTE) were examined as predictors of student classroom performance as measured by three instruments from the "Teacher Performance Assessment Instruments" (TPAIs) of W. Capie et al. (1979). Subjects were 305 teacher education students taking the student teaching…

The relationship between job performance and job satisfaction was evaluated using a longitudinal model. During the winter quarter of 1987, approximately 2,000 students at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) received a student satisfaction survey designed to measure student opinions about programs and services at the university and department…

Each of 91 kindergarten and 79 second grade children attending public and parochial schools were assessed to explore possible relationships between students' performance increments and decrements on experimenter-manipulated puzzle games and their causal attribution for performance, locus of control, and self-concept. The first research question…

This paper explores the functioning of the low-inference observation system used as part of the Tennessee Career Ladder evaluation system, which provides teachers with the opportunity to qualify for additional pay on the basis of outstanding performance. The analysis of the functioning of this form is intended to provide the basis for the ongoing…

Of the three organizational variables that can be understood to influence the work of school specialists, only organizational structure appears to be under the control of school officials. This conclusion was reached by researchers following a year-long study involving close observation of nine carefully selected school specialists from California…

A study was undertaken to investigate the effects of directed response training to focus attention and to assess the impact of pictorial integrated stimuli on incidental learning. A total of 140 second- and fifth-grade children were administered a two-choice discrimination learning task consisting of three parts: original learning, overtraining,…