In this review of research findings, the authors identify ten categories of variables that may influence student learning and schools' instructional effectiveness. All the studies reviewed define effectiveness in terms of basic skills achievement, and all limit their research primarily to elementary schools and students with low socioeconomic…

Research indicates that most women continue to avoid achievement or excellence in careers considered to be "masculine" fields. One reason for this appears to be that even highly motivated women lack confidence in their abilities and are discouraged from seeking demanding careers by others. Recently, a growing number of older "reentry" women are…

The trend to fewer and larger farm units means fewer individuals will actually have the opportunity to engage in farming, yet increasing numbers of farm students are interested in farm and agriculture-related careers. Five background and experiential factors thought to be predictors of the initial expectation to farm were tested via mail surveys…

In a study of student adjustment to university life, excerpts are presented of interviews with 18 mature age unmatriculated women who returned to formal education at the University of New South Wales in 1975. The women were aged between 25 and over 40, half had children, and they were generally middle class. They were not selected by a random…

To determine what effect marriage deferment might have on the ability of both sexes to achieve higher educational levels and, therefore, possibly higher occupational status, the study examined socioeconomic status, attitudes toward future educational and occupational attainments, actual educational and occupational attainments, and desired…

Using data collected from a stratified random sample of South Carolina high school seniors in 1969, the study compared the patterns of occupational choices among white and black boys and girls, and examined the relationship among race, sex, and teacher recruitment. Social class origin, local residence place, and scholastic performance were…

Fixed-choice stimulus questions were distributed to students from 12 New Mexico rural high schools (randomly selected), and responses were derived from 139 Native, 171 Anglo, and 240 Mexican American students in the 10th and 12th grades. Responses indicated educational, occupational, and residential aspirations and expectations and goal…

Basic emotional and intellectual factors in motivation can help to stimulate the learner to acquire the five major literacy skills: listening, speaking, thinking, reading, and writing. Contagion, or the spread effect in psychology, is reflected in the readily communicated attitude of the teacher toward students and teaching itself. Similarly,…

This paper presents a study which related teachers expectations of student achievement after two weeks of classroom contact to several possible sources: student classroom performance, prior school performance, parental involvement, and student status characteristics. Their temporal order and relative influence are examined via a path model and…

Texas, like the rest of the nation, is undergoing a shift toward an excess of females. Review of the changing balance of the sexes reveals that there were only 95.9 males per 100 females in 1970 with a projected drop to 93.8 by 1980. In 1950 Texas had an excess of 15,000 males, but by 1960 females outnumbered males by 90,000 and by 234,000 in…

The purpose of this presentation is to report on a study undertaken by the author to asses teachers' social perceptions of dialectal differences among junior high school males. Male and female teachers judged the academic ability and school behavior of three black and three white male student speakers representing upper-middle-class, middle-class,…

This book is about the kinds of individual differences in students that make differential impressions on teachers, the ways that such differential impressions lead teachers to form differential attitudes and expectations regarding different students, and the ways that these differential teacher attitudes and expectations begin to affect…

This study investigated the interaction between teacher background and student variables such as test scores, level of classroom activity and attention, race and socioeconomic class in determining teacher expectancies of reading abilities of first grade children. Participants were 48 female teachers from the South: 24 white and 24 black. The…

While the effects of teacher expectations on learner performance have continued to be of interest to both classroom teachers and researchers, the findings of much of the research have been equivocal. Teacher expectancy statements may affect performance in three rather distinct ways: the past association value of the expectancy statement, the value…

A seminar whose purpose is to raise the professional competencies of those concerned about Adult Basic Education (ABE) by providing an overview and understanding of the major principles and practices of ABE is presented. Specific objectives include: (1) to enable each class member to formulate and to defend a philosophy and rationale of ABE which…