This followup study of the effects of the Mother-Child Home Program developed by the Verbal Interaction Project (VIP) measures the school performance of nine groups of 162 third grade children from low income families. The program of 92 home sessions spaced over two school years focused on the mother and child as a socially interactive dyad, and…

The author takes the position that standardized tests, as presently developed and marketed, do have potentially positive uses. However, these advantages are outweighed by the tests' deleterious effects on children and programs. Standardized tests refer to published, norm referenced, achievement and intelligence tests which contain specific…

The relationship between pre-existing differences in student attitudes, values, personality, and length of school career is examined in this research report. A sample of 2,790 students who in 1967 were enrolled as freshmen in seven urban and suburban, public and parochial school systems in southern New York completed a questionnaire during their…

The great value of standardized tests for locating talent that would otherwise be likely to remain submerged and unidentified is emphasized. Such tests must be appropriate to the actual ability level of the persons tested, regardless of their grade level, so that sufficient ceilings may be obtained and power of minds probed adequately. High test…

To determine if the ethnocentric perceptions of students would be influenced by participation in a 3-week social studies unit on "The Contributions of Minority Ethnic Groups to American Civilization," a study was made utilizing 114 students in five 12th grade social studies classes (three experimental and two control). The investigation attempted…

Low-income families participated in several variations of a home-based intervention program which focused on modeling verbal interaction between mother and child around selected toys and books. Long-term results from a quasi-experimental design including 83 variously treated and 55 untreated students indicated that the amount of between group IQ…

The WPPSI was used in a Manhattan, N.Y., public school because administrators, teachers, and parents had asked for help in understanding children who had difficulty in learning to read well, despite special efforts to help them. A preventive intervention program was begun based on a clinical study of every first grader. Forty children were…

An intensive investigation analyzing and summarizing the scientific research and professional literature on reading interests of secondary school students was undertaken with the ultimate goal of assembling data which could be used to improve teaching and learning in the area of reading. Using an historical approach, considerable attention was…

The authors of this volume divide their consideration of decision-making into three major areas: 1) a step-by-step analysis for a systematic decision-making process that has widespread application; 2) an explicit description of the legal and extralegal components of the current decision-making structure; and 3) a review of some changing concepts…

To investigate procedures whereby schools may achieve maximal results with otherwise normal underachieving pupils with neurologically based language-learning disorders, 100 such subjects were studied over a 2-year period. Fifty experimental subjects remained in regular classes in school and received individualized teaching outside of school hours…

The purposes of this study were (1) to investigate the effectivenss of activities centered around children's literature on pupils' use and understanding of figurative language, (2) to study the effect of the activities on pupils' reading vocabulary and comprehension, and (3) to examine the relationship of age, sex, IQ, and socioeconomic status to…

This survey of "listening, as a receptive communication skill," summarizes major research on listening in the following areas: (1) "Scope and Extent of Listening," (2) " Literature on Listening," (3) "Relationships to Listening"--the interrelationships between listening and such factors as reading skills, intelligence, school achievement, cultural…

For 3 years, from 1966-68, data were collected representing the behavioral, social, and medical characteristics of over 20,000 retardates, the resident population of 22 state institutions for the mentally retarded in 13 western states. The data were returned to the institutions where they stimulated research, program development, evaluation, and…

This article reports the results of research carried out in London using five-year-old children of working class and middle class backgrounds. Speech samples were collected and compared on the basis of grammatical categories. It was discovered that working class children used more pronouns than their middle class counterparts in third person…

It is asserted in this paper that some standardized tests do not do a good job of what they claim to do, and for some testing purposes nonstandardized tests are more appropriate or efficient. Under present circumstances, group I.Q. tests should be abolished. They provide no useful information that cannot be gained from achievement tests. And what…