Focusing primarily on the role of educational leaders, this document analyzes what makes a difference in school learning. After a brief review of literature on the relationship between administrative leadership and student learning, aspects of the Far West Laboratory Instructional Leadership Model (the FWL model) used in the current analyses are…

One approach to increasing our understanding of the rating process is to examine behavioral components of decision-making. Although observable rater behavior during appraisal is still removed from the actual contents of internal processing, these behavioral indices may provide important clues toward identifying determinants of rating success. To…

This investigation of cognitive effort begins with a review of cognitive principles relating to memory and graphic encoding of information. The cognitive framework described allows explanation of improved memory due to reparsing of graphic representations. It also provides the basis for optimizing graphical material design to insure best retention…

Competence feedback has been found to increase intrinsic motivation, defined as those behaviors that are motivated by the underlying need for competence and self-determination. In a study investigating competency and intrinsic motivation, 120 high school males received three types of competence information: (1) expectancy (information that they…

The primary pedagogical principle of Reader's Theatre is that it "dramatizes" literature to provide both a visual and an oral stimulus for students who may be unaccustomed to using their imagination to experience literary works like novels, poems, essays, or short stories. Promoting a suggestive, "theatrical mind" approach to…

Study skills research has progressed within the past ten years from primary concern with overt and observable study behaviors to an examination of cognitive and motivational processes underlying student learning and achievement outcomes. However, there is still need for a more comprehensive approach which integrates the behavioral, cognitive and…

The roles of training, problem representation, and individual differences on performance of both automated (simple) and controlled (complex) process tasks were studied. The following hypotheses were tested: (1) training and cognitive style affect the representation developed; (2) training and cognitive style affect the development and performance…

The study examined the relationship between probe and training conditions on performance of nine severely handicapped students on functional tasks in classroom and community settings. Findings led to the following recommendations to teachers: measures of student performance under natural or probe conditions should be evaluated in addition to…

A study was made to: (1) examine differences of Type A (competitive) and Type B (non-competitive) children in competitive and noncompetitive situations; (2) identify relationships between physiological and behavioral measures; (3) identify the standards Type A children adopt in evaluating their performance; and (4) assess concurrence between two…

Findings of this study of the managerial behavior of special education principals are compared with findings of other studies of managerial behavior of elementary and secondary principals. Mintzberg's theoretical model of administrative behavior (1973) was applied to special education principals. Five structured observations were conducted with…

The study assesses impacts of population growth and migration status on academic performance and participation of 1,743 white high school seniors from primarily nonmetropolitan areas of Utah. Data from a survey of the state's 1980 graduating seniors are employed in the analysis. Indicators of academic performance are the number of organizations in…

A task was developed to differentiate the reasoning of elementary school students in fifth, sixth, and seventh grades. Subjects completed 16 matrices containing two, three, or four dimensions and varying in the embeddedness of the dimensions. They also solved a formal operational task assessing ability to isolate, exclude, and include variables.…

The structure of incentives and disincentives for student effort in school, and how this structure may be modified by educational reform, were investigated using data from the High School and Beyond (HS&B) survey. A framework was designed which blends sociologists' focus on school organization and educational stratification with economists'…

According to the classical working memory perspective, tasks such as command and control decision-making should be performed less effectively if extraneous material must be retained in short-term memory. Only marginal support for this prediction was obtained for a simulation involving scheduling trucking and transportation missions, although…

The paper presents observations of families having adult members with learning disabilities and describes a residential program to facilitate the transition to independent living of lower functioning learning disabled young adults. The program, called Independence Center, involves placing participants in apartments with roommates and helping them…