Four paradoxes appear in research on learning to read: (1) the ability to name letters is a good predictor of reading readiness, yet letter-naming training does not help children learn how to read; (2) visual discrimination is often better in poor readers than in good readers; (3) learning to read two languages is easier than learning to read one;…

A supervisor undertaking the demanding task of English curriculum planning for grades 1-12 must recognize that teaching and continuing curriculum development should proceed concurrently in a situation flexible enough to encompass evaluation and change. Consequently, procedures to be considered in curriculum development should include (1) studying…

The effects of behavioral and performance contingencies on classroom behavior and on academic performance were investigated. The subjects, third grade students from an inner city elementary school, were exposed to a series of conditions including baseline, behavior contingencies, performance contingencies, and a mix of behavior and performance…

In September 1970, Behavioral Research Laboratories of California (BRL) assumed jurisdiction over the entire curriculum at the Banneker School in Gary, Indiana. The elementary school resembles most well-maintained, well-supported surburban schools, with the one exception that the student body and most of the faculty are black. The program as…

This study examined the verbal interaction of teachers and pupils to determine if the quantity and quality of teacher verbalization had significant impact on the verbal test scores of pre-school Head Start Children. Teacher's verbal behavior was scored by a modification of the Caldwell Observer Rating Form. Children were tested using the Wechsler…

A new Formative Evaluation Test on Bloom's paper "Learning for Mastery" is presented. The self-instructional quiz has the principles of mastery learning in it, features instant knowledge of results coupled with prescriptive feedback, and has a non-punitive student self-scoring and item-of-difficulty identification system. It should be an…

The emphasis in this study is on the development of a diagnostic measurement model for instruction. The content used was junior high science, but the content and subjects were used primarily as a means to an end. The model represents an attempt to incorporate Gagne's learning taxonomy into Tyler's model of the educational act. Focus is on the…

The procedures used to develop a list of concepts taught in fourth-grade language arts are described. Thirty concepts from the list were randomly sampled and then analyzed. Analysis consisted of listing examples and non-examples, relevant and irrelevant attributes, subordinates and supraordinates, and a definition and principle for each concept.…

An experiment investigated the effects of representational modes, presentation methods, and age on learning. Representation was in either iconic or symbolic verbal style, the verbal component was presented by either tape or booklet, and the pictorial component contrasted filmloops. Nine and eleven year old learners were exposed to a lesson on the…

Piaget's notions about schema retention were examined using a sample of 384 disadvantaged four, five, and six year old children from a wide geographical area. The purpose was to examine the idea that schemas may be destroyed or modified by specific methods of interference using a retroactive inhibition model. Pictorial scenes were generated and…

This study explored the effects of overt and covert verbalization instructions on problem solving in high school subjects. A series of three-circle problems were administered to groups instructed to either (1) say a reason for each move they made (overt verbalization), (2) think of a reason for each move as if they were going to say it (covert…

Conflicting evidence as to the presence or absence of generalization in classroom behavior modification programs prompted this study of the conditions of generalization. During the experiment, behaviors operationally defined as competitive or cooperative were reinforced in certain game situations. Then the generalization of this training over…

This booklet presents the text of the addresses by three speakers at the Annual Conference of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, March 6-10, 1971, in St. Louis, Missouri. The first address, "Dare to Care/Dare to Act" by Price M. Cobbs, M.D., deals with the symptoms, the virulence, and the infectious nature of racism. He…

Investigations designed to eliminate ambiguities in the Andre and Kulhavy procedure and to investigate the effects of noun modifications and sentence voice in the category clustering of sentences were conducted. Two experiments were carried out; both employed a mixed factorial design and were prepared in dittoed booklets. The Ss were run in…

THE EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN OF THIS PROJECT WAS DEVELOPED TO TEST THE INFLUENCE OF INCENTIVE VALUES IN TWO-CHOICE, SIMULTANEOUS DISCRIMINATION LEARNING WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF AN ATTENTION THEORY (ZEAMAN AND HOUSE, 1963). FOLLOWING A 40-TRIAL TRAINING PROCEDURE IN WHICH HIGH AND LOW INCENTIVE VALUES WERE USED TO INFLUENCE STIMULUS DIMENSION…