The analysis presented here focuses on different problem situations extracted from everyday interactions in which individual developmental changes of the child interfere with well-established interaction patterns of the family. These problem situations require conjoint mastery of two objectives: (a) successful integration of the child into the…

Sensitivity to context variables marks the third phase of effective schools research (ESR). The first phase was one of explicit concern for equity, challenging the works of Coleman and Jencks which suggested that achievement differences were more associated with family background than school variables. This research focused on low socioeconomic…

The necessity of controlling the order in which trained essay raters for a statewide writing assessment program receive student essays was studied. The underlying theoretical question concerns possible rater bias caused by raters reading long strings of essays of homogeneous quality; this problem is usually referred to as context effect or…

Collected are four conference speeches which in various ways attack the developmental perspective that views genetics as a source of stability and environment as a source of change. Dr. Bonnie E. Litowitz's discussion of "Context and Continuity: Changing Perspectives on Children" explores differences among development, learning, and…

How do students' best learn in science? The traditional, teacher-centered view was that students, viewed as "empty vessels" waiting to be filled with new knowledge, "received" understanding by absorbing information supplied by teachers and found in written materials. Supplying information to students, without accounting for…

During the 1960s, Israel's primary schools were very dissimilar in their student-body compositions, and only half practiced ability grouping. Analysis of data on late 1960s male students reveals large contextual effects on educational outcomes in schools that did not group students and small contextual effects in schools which did. (KH)

The purpose of this study is to document how member schools of the Boston Pilot Schools Network use authentic assessments to understand what their students know and can do. These principles not only reflect the belief that a student's learning must be measured in multiple, authentic ways, they also reflect the Network's focus on equitable…

A comprehensive report from the National Center on Performance Incentives reviews the history of teacher pay policy in the United States and earlier cycles of interest in merit or performance-based pay, the various critiques of its use in K-12 education, and empirical research studies that are useful in considering its likely impact. The report…

Preparing children to become citizens of a democracy requires recognition of the different ways in which children learn about politics. Kids in the United States currently spend most of their lives in controlled situations such as schools where the dependency they experience in their homes is reinforced. Besides teachers--books, films, television,…

This study introduced and demonstrated a new methodology for item and test bias studies: moderated differential item functioning (DIF). This technique expands the DIF methodology to incorporate contextual and sociological variables as moderating effects of the DIF. The study explored differential domain functioning (DDF), so that the focus of…

Although adult education as a field has shown interest in theories of situated cognition, it has misappropriated some of its central concepts. Proponents of situated cognition posit that learning is not something that happens in independent isolation, or just inside the head, but instead is shaped by the context, culture, and tools of the learning…

This research brief highlights findings from a qualitative study of the contextual factors that shape engagement in adult literacy education. Engagement is mental effort focused on learning and is a precondition to learning progress. Some researchers focus on engagement as a cognitive, or mental, process closely related to such things as…

The Rural Educational Environment (REE) is a complex mixture of demographic and economic forces that interact to impact the rural school corporation. The condition of REE financial and human capital indicates REE health and may influence student performance on standardized tests. This paper proposes an ecosystem model of the impact of financial,…

Based on the papers presented at the 1996 Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society and highlighting the extent to which Piaget's ideas have served to scaffold contemporary thinking about every aspect of conceptual development, this volume examines the nature of conceptual development, its foundations, and the sources of its novelties. The chapters…

This book provides guidance in addressing the special needs of Latino children and adolescents, offering a comprehensive examination of four contextual levels: the microsystem level of family; the mesosystem and exosystem level of school and community; and the macrosystem level of cultural practices. Culturally responsive treatment strategies are…