This study evaluated strategies to encourage interaction in a distance education setting, specifically a Ball State University (Indiana) distance graduate-level course in Elementary School Curriculum which utilized the World Wide Web and a "Class Page." Participants were primarily elementary school teachers (47 graduate students) who…

Students at Woodridge Middle School in Peninsula, Ohio, have access to a brand new library which houses more than 10,000 items. This study examined whether students take advantage of the school library and its resources when completing school assignments. A random sample of students in grades six through eight was given a questionnaire to fill out…

Establishing school-based drug prevention programs was the aim of the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1986 (DFSCA). A summary of the findings of a longitudinal study of DFSCA is presented in this report. Revitalized in 1995 as the Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act (SDFSCA), the Act's scope was extended to include prevention…

First-year students (n=255) at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania completed a survey instrument concerning human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS), during the initial meetings of a general health course. Ninety-four percent of respondents had received information about HIV/AIDS at the secondary school level.…

This paper addresses the analysis of surveys administered to prekindergarten through eighth grade students and the analysis of parent and teacher interviews in an effort to determine why children read, what they prefer to read, and how adults can further motivate them to read. The premise of the paper is that attitudes (feelings toward an…

Each spring, students in randomly selected classes at Howard Community College (Maryland) complete the Yearly Evaluation of Services by Students (YESS) survey. The purpose of this survey is to gather student perceptions about the quality of service and instruction they received, and to rate other elements of the campus environment in order to…

This Cuesta College (California) document identifies key institutional effectiveness indicators that are used to assess institutional performance on specified educational processes. The key process of instruction/learning is measured through student performance results such as: (1) transfer rate (University of California/California State…

This empirical study compared a graduate online course with an equivalent course taught in a traditional face-to-face format. Comparisons included student ratings of instructor and course quality; assessment of course interaction, structure, and support; and learning outcomes such as course grades and student self-assessment of ability to perform…

This study used data from the Monitoring the Future Survey of high school seniors to examine the impact of religion on U.S. adolescents' participation in constructive youth activities. Overall, religion positively related to participation in constructive activities. Students who participated in religious activities tended to be less likely to…

This report describes instructional strategies to improve the revising and editing skills of sixth grade students during the writing process. The literature review suggested improved instruction and evaluation through a writing workshop approach as a possible solution to the problem of poor revision skills. Within this structure, research also…

Since 1999, and as part of an Ameritech grant, the author has systematically investigated use of streaming media to enhance face-to-face classes. Technology invites experimentation but raises questions about such things as student acceptance, student use, academic performance, and what to do with class time when lectures are put online. Students…

A study compared the use of two approaches to service learning in an undergraduate human exceptionalities course. The "Unlimited Choice-group" of 13 students designed and implemented their own service learning project involving persons with disabilities, and the "Limited Choice-group" of 16 students chose between 3 prearranged projects.…

This report highlights findings from the 1998 Minnesota Student Survey, administered to 3,791 voluntary participants, comparing students in alternative school settings with those in public schools. Alternative schools and area learning centers are high school diploma granting programs designed for students who are behind in their work, have…

This paper describes efforts at East Carolina University (North Carolina) to develop a survey instrument and related procedures to assess distance learning courses. The survey was conducted during the 1998-99 academic year via the World Wide Web and combined the Student Opinion of Instruction Survey (SOIS) with additional questions that assessed…

This paper reports on the results of a preliminary investigation of the extent to which first-year students entering a university during the summer, who enroll in the introductory information systems course in a college of business, meet the requirements for the course upon entrance. A second objective is to recommend a course of action to be…