This analysis reviews the data on two types of extended school programs--those that extend the number of hours per day students spend in school, and those that extend the school year. Proponents of extending the school day or the school year frequently cite examples from outside the United States, where the average school year is often longer, and…

The role of evaluation in improving academic performance is explored. A theoretical development of formative evaluation in higher education and a critique of higher education in the light of that theory is presented. Grading, feedforward, feedback, course length, and cumulative assessment are discussed. (Author/MLW)

Analyses of the results of 23 reports on coaching for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) indicated that, on the average, coaching can help increase SAT scores. The considerable variability in the results of 48 studies reflected the many factors influencing coaching effectiveness and the wide variety of study designs. (SLD)

Reports on a study which collated and compared evaluations of seven distance education courses in Hong Kong using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Conclusions about tutorials, group activities, interstudent contact, telephone counseling, and video and television broadcasts are synthesized; and guidelines for formatting…

Describes the use of a multi-part journal format, known as the synthesis journal, in academic assistance composition classes. The journal promotes students' abilities to synthesize ideas from four major sources--text, lecture, class discussion, and personal experience--and encourages higher-order thinking skills without shifting attention from the…

The authors measured memory for individual features (objects only or locations only) and the combination of those features (objects and locations) in 9-, 12-, and 21-year-old students with a "yes" or "no" recognition task. Analysis of recognition memory performance (d' scores) revealed that although age differences existed in memory for individual…

Research studies and theoretical works on the following aspects of professionalization of adult literacy teachers were reviewed: preparation, certification, and licensure of adult educators; history of the professionalization process of other occupations; state certification requirements for adult basic education (ABE) teachers; and preparation…

The absence of an authoring agency in higher education is often reflected in the bewilderment of students who feel they have been forced to take courses which have no relevance to their life goals and interests. At the University of Washington School of Drama, a project was developed to involve undergraduates in the development of an open-ended…

The study is a methodological inquiry into the interpretation of qualitative data. It explores a grounded theory approach to the synthesis of data, and examines, in particular, construction of categories. It focuses on ways of organizing data and attaching meaning, as research problems embedded in cultural context are explored. A qualitative…

THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE LEVELS OF THINKING THAT CHARACTERIZED TRACK I AND TRACK IV CLASSES IN ENGLISH, MATHEMATICS, AND SOCIAL STUDIES AT THE EIGHTH GRADE LEVEL. THE DATA WERE GATHERED AT CENTRAL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, ALAMOGORDO, NEW MEXICO, BY OBSERVERS RECORDING THE VERBAL INTERCHANGES AND TEACHER-PUPIL TALK OR PUPIL-PUPIL…

The relative effectiveness of including behavioral objectives, classified according to the major levels of cognition, in independent study materials for high school juniors is analyzed in this brief summary of the author's dissertation. The three major questions under consideration are whether: (1) the use of behavioral objectives has an effect…

A synthesis of Polish research and research methodology (1965-75) re: leisure time and rural youth reveals methodological differences and research results with implications for the future of rural youth. In the order of their popularity, the major Polish research methods are: inquiry; the memorialist approach; a combination of inquiry and free…

Performance data for 42 subjects pertaining to seven course objectives and ten propositional logic tasks were analyzed for hierarchical relationships using ordering theoretic technique. The resulting hierarchy indicated that simple implication and particular contraposition propositional logic tasks were prerequisite to some course objectives. This…

Senator Edward Kennedy, from the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, submitted this report in accompaniment to United States Senate Bill 2969 (S. 2969), which was introduced by Senator Kennedy and Senator Gregg on September 19, 2002. S. 2969 provides for an office within the Department of Education to conduct high quality research…

This paper attempts to draw attention to non-conventional but popular modes of transmitting scientific knowledge in Jesuit institutions in the 17th century. The particular case study focuses on a fictive dialogue between Galileo, Mersenne and Paulus Guldin on the power needed for moving the huge globe of the earth by mechanical means. The dialogue…