We use quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the links between participation in adult learning and self-efficacy, particularly for the subgroup of adults who had low levels of achievement at school. We focus on self-efficacy because it translates into a range of wider benefits and because it may afford protection from depression and…

The sexual health needs of young males have been largely ignored in the field of reproductive health. Until recently, the health care needs of females have received the vast majority of attention from public health professionals and organizations with services focused on the prevention of teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, and…

The new emphasis on performance-based assessment holds much promise for assessment in physical education, particularly for the assessment of motor skills. Physical educators want to know if students can perform motor skills and use those motor skills in game and activity settings. However, the viability of performance-based assessment as a formal…

This paper discusses one aspect of the findings from an ethnographic study of the ways in which four-year-old children learn, and are taught, at home and in their Reception class. The children were from two distinctive cultural backgrounds within the same urban neighbourhood: one-half belonged to UK ("Anglo") families, and one-half to…

This study provides an extensive test of Ogbu's oppositional culture theory that accounts for student maturation over time. Using data from the Maryland Adolescence Development In Context Study (MADICS), I test the proposition that blacks resist school more than whites, and that this difference grows with age. Analyses were conducted across 24…

In this study we examined how good and weak students of literature interact with short literary stories. We focused on differences in the use of cognitive and affective reading activities, and in the extent to which good and weak students adapt their activities to (parts of) the story they are reading. 19 Dutch tenth-grade students from 8 classes…

The purpose of this study was to identify salient risk factors for depression in early adolescence from a group of common predictors. The following nine predictors were examined: (1) perceived quality of peer relationships, (2) perceived parental nurturance, (3) perceived parental rejection, (4) self-esteem, (5) body image, (6) pubertal status,…

This study was designed to examine the associations and differences that exist in the NCE scores of students on the "Terranova" portion of the Tennessee Comprehensive Exam, as well as the possible influence of variables such as initial scores, grade level, gender, and free or reduced lunch status. The population consisted of a stable…

In 2004 the Arizona Education Policy Initiative (AEPI), a collaboration of Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona, conducted its first-annual survey of parents in a systematic effort to capture parent opinion and establish a framework for tracking parent views over time. Assessing parent opinion is…

The Arizona Education Policy Initiative (AEPI), a collaboration of Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Arizona, conducted a statewide telephone survey to get parents' perspectives on the condition of education in the state. From March 17 to March 27, 2004, a statewide random sample of 400 Arizona parents…

This study investigated the relationship between classroom student diversity (how students differ in their attributes, educational requirements, learning styles) and teacher capacity (skills, abilities, knowledge) to student performance in Texas public schools. Teacher ethnicity and gender, class size, and classroom per pupil expenditure were…

Research on the relationship between early childhood literacy experiences and subsequent reading acquisition is reviewed, with a focus on awareness and knowledge of print. Research studies included children, preschool age to age 7, who were identified as normally achieving, at risk, and linguistically diverse. One of the studies involved children…

This guide is designed to provide educators with ways to organize and implement strategies to ensure that deliberate efforts are made to achieve gender equity. The format allows facilitators to select specific unit content to meet both state and local staff development purposes and to adapt the suggested activities to the special professional…

Ten essays address aspects of second language instruction at the elementary school level: "Elementary School Foreign Languages: Perspectives, Practices, and Promises" (Carol Ann Pesola, Helena Anderson Curtain); "The Integrated Curriculum: Rethinking the Elementary School Foreign Language Program for the '90s" (Virginia…

This paper describes an exploratory study in which three groups of Latina and Latino high school students, previously identified as "at risk," performed at a level of "giftedness" after an instructional intervention grounded on the theoretical orientations of cultural discontinuity and self-efficacy. A total of 29…