The exact and closed-interval area measures for detecting differential item functioning are compared for actual data from 1,000 African-American and 1,000 white college students taking a vocabulary test with items intentionally constructed to favor 1 set of examinees. No real differences in detection of biased items were found. (SLD)

The relationship of print exposure, measured by the Title Recognition Test (TRT), to word reading and reading comprehension was studied for 36 reading-disabled and 49 nondisabled students in grades 5 through 9. The power of the TRT to predict word reading and reading comprehension is discussed. (SLD)

DARE's effectiveness in Charleston County (South Carolina) was studied by comparing 341 DARE to 367 non-DARE fifth-grade students. DARE teaches students to recognize and resist social pressures to use drugs. DARE has positive impacts on anti-substance abuse attitudes, assertiveness, positive peer association, association with drug-using peers, and…

Describes a study of reading skills improvement among 362 Morgan State University freshmen who were assigned to a corrective reading course after scoring below the tenth grade level on the McGraw-Hill Reading Test. Posttest scores showed significant improvement in reading skills. (PAA)

Comprehension and Picture Arrangement Wechsler subtest scores were correlated with clinician ratings of social competence and hostility for 82 children at risk for psychopathology and 62 healthy children and 124 at-risk and 113 healthy adolescents. Results do not suggest that either subtest is sensitive to social functioning. (SLD)

Notes that the microgenetic method has revealed new information about normally achieving children's cognition, and reviews data from three different microgenetic studies. Concludes that there are similar sequences of strategy change, similar rates of strategy change, and similar frequency of strategy discovery and use in children with and without…

Reports that the International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS) was administered to 20 member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1998. IALS identified a very large proportion of adults with very low levels of literacy, most of whom did not see literacy as being crucial to their well being. (Contains 12…

Using a sample of 522 students at a Lutheran university in the Southwestern United States, researchers examined differences in the predictive strength of high school grades and standardized test scores for student involvement, academic achievement, retention, and satisfaction. Findings indicate that high school grades are stronger predictors of…

Purpose: The performance of low-income African American preschoolers (36 to 52 months old) on the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Third Edition (PPVT-III; L. M. Dunn & L. M. Dunn, 1997) was examined to provide a norm for assessing the performance of this population and to explore the link between socioeconomic status (SES) and language scores on…

The present research investigated the impact of environmental education (EE) programs on student achievement in math, reading, and writing by comparing student performances on two standardized tests for environmental education schools and schools with traditional curriculum. Quantitative analysis was used to evaluate the impact of the EE programs.…

It is not what is taught that has the most influence on students' study behaviour, but rather what is assessed. Computer-assisted assessment offers the possibility of widening the scope of the material that is assessed, without placing excessive burdens on either staff or students. This article describes a computer-assisted assessment scheme…

Purpose: The purpose of the two studies described in this paper was to assess whether adults with dementia could assume an advice-giving role (Study 1) and a teacher role (Study 2) despite their cognitive impairments. So far, no research on adults with dementia has compared language production in a social conversation condition with that in an…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of the cooperative learning approach based on conceptual change conditions over traditional instruction on 10th grade students' conceptual understanding and achievement of computational problems related to chemical equilibrium concepts. The subjects of this study consisted of 87 tenth grade…

This article addresses the lack of outcome-based research on the integration of technology into pedagogy at the undergraduate college level. It describes a study performed at a Midwestern university, testing the relative effectiveness of paper and electronic topographic maps for teaching map-reading skills, and considers the relationship between…

One hundred nine college students participated in an experiment that involved reading a passage and responding to a 20-item multiple choice test. The students were randomly assigned to one of four groups. The four conditions involved reading and copying, reading and highlighting, reading and taking notes, and reading and generating questions.…