A study involving 513 developmental math students at eight Illinois community colleges was conducted to determine the correlation between student success or failure in developmental math courses and nine independent variables: (1) instructional method, i.e. "traditional," in which the instructor sets the pace for learning, and "nontraditional," in…

A study examined the effects of maternal employment status and a series of intrafamilial variables on the career orientation of adolescent females and on their attitudes toward working mothers. The Career Orientation Scale (COS), a researcher-developer scale designed to measure the extent to which work is viewed as central to the female…

Results of the secondary analysis of data obtained in a study of Head Start graduates in the public schools are presented and discussed in this final report. Unforeseen circumstances prohibited the full implementation of the original longitudinal research design, and, consequently, only one test battery was administered to first-grade students.…

A study of third-year medical school discussion groups was undertaken to determine how much the cognitive level of instructors' questions in small group sessions influenced student responses and whether these responses had any measureable relationship to critical thinking skills, or National Board of Medical Examiner (NBME) scores. The research…

The progress of students under 21 years old at the United Kingdom's Open University (OU) was compared with a sample of mature students, using sociological and psychometric research methods. The research goal was to consider whether the OU's teaching system originally designed for adults is suited to the needs and circumstances of students in the…

This collection of abstracts is part of a continuing series providing information on recent doctoral dissertations. The nine titles deal with the following topics: (1) small group interaction within effective and ineffective decision making groups; (2) vertical communication as perceived by administrators and teachers; (3) communication roles as…

Classroom teachers need to make sound judgments and decisions concerning curricular and instructional issues. The teachers who wish to become more effective in the classroom should learn to develop their own research designs since educational research reported in journals is often inconclusive, conflicting, or not relevant to the classroom…

Research which has investigated factors affecting pupils' attitudes toward school subjects is reviewed, examining descriptive, correlational, and experimental research on students' attitudes toward several different school subjects at various grade levels. Although many weaknesses exist in the methodology and theoretical basis of much of the…

A theory, which proposed a hierarchy of determinants of student ratings of instruction, was tested. Situational variables such as class size, elective enrollment, and grade expectancy were hypothesized to be only indicators of more potent determiners. These motivational constructs were diversity of enrollment motives and subject matter interests,…

In a study of reading achievement in the Chicago schools, regression and factor analysis were used to discover which school measures were associated with the reading comprehension scores of students ages 7, 10, and 13. Achievement data from three successive years (1974-75, 1975-76, and 1976-77) were averaged from the results of the Iowa Tests of…

In order to facilitate efforts to evaluate the progress of black students currently enrolled in several selective colleges and/or to develop rationales for extending educational opportunity to racial minorities, a study was undertaken to focus on (1) selected characteristics of black female students entering several selective liberal arts…

The process of withdrawal from two- and four-year institutions of higher education was studied. Data were drawn from the base year and the first and second follow-ups of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. Results indicated that: (1) women students were more likely to withdraw only in two-year colleges; (2) white…

This paper develops and estimates a model of the educational process. Most researchers have relied on a single equation, educational production function, which is an unrealistic formulation. A pupil's achievement, motivation, expectations, self-concept, and his perceived parents' and teachers' expectations are determined jointly, not…

The study examines trends among students and graduates of the Minnesota Area Vocational Technical Institutes (AVTIs). Some of the data were gathered yearly between 1970-71 and 1973-74; some were gathered yearly between 1971-72 and 1973-74. Seventeen selected variables were reviewed. Relatively minor changes occurred over the years on seven of the…

The effect of class size, course level, instructor rank, campus, and subject area on 14,366 student ratings of 488 science and mathematics classes at a main university and 18 branch campuses was investigated. Class means were factor-analyzed and four resultant components of teaching performance were submitted to a 2x2x2x2x3 MANOVA. Discriminant…