This study explored institutional similarities using modelling techniques in the national university population. Measures of proximity in national datasets shed light on the dynamics of peer group construction. Factors were identified that provide the foundation for peer similarities. Structural equation modelling allowed testing of fit across…

The present study aims at gaining an understanding of structures underlying Korean teachers' willingness to change their traditionally-oriented mathematics teaching practice toward reform-oriented mathematics instruction. Elementary school teachers from a metropolitan city of Korea (N = 281) participated in this study. To deal with this problem,…

This study examines two ideas that have emerged from research involving African American adolescents with respect to academic achievement: (1) the notion that African American students do not support their peers' academic endeavors; and (2) the notion that African Americans do poorly in school as a result of alienation in the classroom, and may…

This study explored a model for students development of the understandings and skills that are involved in being able to construct graphical representations of data and to interpret these graphs. The study examined four components of prior understanding required for graphic representation that were adapted from a learning map from the Atlas of…

A study was conducted to determine the association among variables representing parent and school demographics, parents' opinions of the school, their reasons for choosing it, and their willingness to support the school in various ways, including the level of tuition they would pay. Data were collected from a stratified sample of 10 high schools…

This study focuses on the computer laboratory class as a learning environment in university courses. In it, two previously developed instruments, the Computer Laboratory Environment Inventory (CLEI) (based on an instrument designed by B. Fraser, G. Giddings, and C. McRobbie, 1993) and the Attitude towards Computing and Computing Courses…

The relationship between changes in the scores from Maryland's performance assessment program, the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program (MSPAP) from 1993 to 1998 and classroom instruction and assessment practices, student learning and motivation, students' and teachers' beliefs about and attitudes towards the assessment, and school…

Presents the results of a case study which looked at the mathematics classroom of one teacher trying to teach mathematics with meaning to pupils or lower ability at the secondary level. Contrasts methods of teaching linear equations to a variety of ability levels and uses the Pirie-Kieren model to account for the successful growth in understanding…

Examined theoretical model of early environmental action of 282 Caucasian and African American infants, using structural equation modeling. Model included socioeconomic status, early cognitive status, stimulation with home environment, parental use of negative control, and later cognitive status. Models for males and females showed similar…

Examines associations of multiple measures of naming speed, phonological awareness, and verbal intelligence with word reading in poor readers and good readers. Reveals that for poor readers naming speed and phonological awareness were associated with word reading, but not verbal intelligence--for good readers, phonological awareness and verbal…

Structural models were used to examine developmental stages of antisocial behavior and their relation to during-treatment performance of 245 probationers in an inpatient substance abuse treatment program. Separate childhood and adulthood antisocial functioning components predicted psychological functioning and program perceptions during treatment.…

Used survey (for 1,001 adults) and administrative data (for 137,330 first-exit cases) in structural equation modeling to examine psychological and social factors as determinants of welfare dependency and self-sufficiency. Findings show well-being to be a predictor of low recidivism and high employment. (SLD)

The relations between examinee background characteristics and performance on the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) General Test were studied through structural equation modeling for 3,145 examinees. Findings regarding examinee characteristics underscore the importance of socioeconomic status and intervening process variables in research on group…

A study (n=139 students) used hierarchical structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between intellectual development and identity from the beginning of the freshman year through the end of the sophomore year. Results suggest that the college freshman's sense of identity is important in later intellectual development. Intervention…

An implementation of the Gauss-Newton algorithm for the analysis of covariance structure that is specifically adapted for high-level computer languages is reviewed. This simple method for estimating structural equation models is useful for a variety of standard models, as is illustrated. (SLD)