An analysis of the effects of three kinds of teacher comment (social-comparison, subject-matter,and intraindividually oriented) accompanying grades in mathematics is presented. Subjects were 385 students from grades 6 through 10. In analyses of variance, an interaction between type of comment and the student's prior performance level was revealed…

The first article summarizes the findings of four studies which used unobtrusive testing techniques to evaluate library reference services. The validity of this testing method and the conclusions reached are discussed, and suggestions are made for improving reference services in five related articles. (CLB)

Discusses evaluation problems of child care staff. Reviews the use of performance statements as an objective and concrete evaluation system. (RJC)

Martin Luther King's speech is examined as a sermon in the Black Baptist tradition. The speech, which is a dialog between speaker and audience, has, in addition to the "message" contained in the code, a broader ethnographic meaning. The speech event itself is metaphorical in nature, signaling political protest. (Author/BJV)

Compares 27 children with early onset diabetes (EOD) with 24 children with late onset diabetes (LOD) and 30 sibling controls in performance on tests of intellectual functioning and school achievement. Results revealed that duration of illness, age of onset, and hypoglycemic convulsions significantly predicted spatial ability. (Author/RWB)

Deaf children (N=52) were administered a videotaped presentation of a vocabulary test under one of five conditions: Total Communication (TC) with audio; TC without audio; Manual Communication (MC) with no mouth movement; Oral Communication (OC) with audio; and OC without audio. Modes using MC or TC yielded performances significantly superior to OC…

Ten- to thirteen-year-old children selected either the objectively more effective keyword method or the naturalistic context method for learning vocabulary meanings. Concludes that, even in the absence of explicit performance feedback, children can be induced to reflect on their use of strategies and their outcomes on subsequent cognitive actions.…

Observational measures of mother-child interaction, home environment, demographic variables, and maternal attitudes were used in developing two causal models for classroom and achievement test performance for 86 Mexican American children. Mothers most strongly promoted academic competence by serving as appropriate role models and encouraging an…

Presents evidence to establish that instructional technology applications often result in transfer of training failures, which are attributed to inappropriate mixing of behaviorist and cognitive instructional design models. Specific suggestions are made for instructional design prescriptions that support different levels of transfer for different…

Investigates whether an experimentally imposed 80dB (A) noise affected psychomotor, serial memory words and pictures, incidental memory, visual recall, paired associates, perceptual learning, and coding performance of five-year-old Black children attending day care centers near and far from elevated subways. (HOD)

Two studies on the relationship between taking a commercial coaching course and performance on the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) are reported. In both studies, one on repeating examinees and another on first-time examinees, differences in scores favoring coached examinees were found on the science knowledge and problems subtests.…

Data drawn from a qualitative study of teachers' perceptions of work stress is presented. Linkages between teacher stress and teacher performance are firmly established. Study data are discussed in terms of the Performance Adaptation Syndrome, a term used to describe the deleterious effects of prolonged work stress on instructional ability.…

Three year trends in the law grade averages of nonminority, Black, and Chicano students were studied in two sets of law schools enrolling more than 900 Black students and more than 300 Chicano students. Reasons for the differential improvements in grades are considered, including statistical artifacts and substantive factors. (Author/BS)

Investigated attributes of 61 online searchers that were believed to affect quality of search results: creativity level (measured using two self-report inventories); intelligence level (approximated from GRE verbal and quantitative scores); and personality traits in regard to masculinity, femininity, and self-esteem (measured using…

The influence of item arrangement on students' total test performance was investigated. Two hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. The main finding within the context of this study was that item arrangements based on item difficulties did not influence achievement examination performance. (Author/DWH)