This ERIC/RCS Special Collection contains 4 ERIC Digests (brief syntheses of the research on a specific topic in contemporary education) and 14 FAST Bibs (Focused Access to Selected Topics--annotated bibliographies with selected entries from the ERIC database), providing up-to-date information in an accessible format. The collection focuses on…

To broaden and extend the Mt. Druitt Early Childhood Project, a study was made of variables that research suggested were associated with classroom disruption in the primary school. Disruptive incidents in the classroom were construed as sequences of behaviors involving one or more students and the teacher in which class order breaks down and the…

Intended to provide practical information pertaining to methods and techniques for speech elicitation and production, the monograph offers specific methods and techniques to elicit spontaneous speech in bilingual students. Chapter 1, "Traditional Methodologies for Language Production and Recording," presents an overview of studies using…

This project presents a pool of questions that can be used in surveys to provide data that would enable state and local education agencies, school administrators, teachers, parents, and the computer industry to make better informed decisions regarding: (1) curriculum planning and implementation in elementary and secondary school; (2) design of…

The ways in which teachers' cognitions about classroom practice vary with the developmental level of the children they teach and the subject matter taught were studied through interviews with 40 teachers. Participants were 8 teachers of kindergarten and grade 1, 10 teachers of grade 2, 11 teachers of grade 3, and 11 teachers of grades 4, 5, and 6.…

Database documentation for a statistical data file on local education agency (LEA) students and staff is provided. The data file includes counts of the number of schools, the numbers of students and teachers at various levels, and the numbers of instructional aides and other staff. Data file figures for teachers, aides, and, where possible, other…

A statistical data file on local education agency (LEA) students and staff is provided. The data file includes counts of the number of schools, the numbers of students and teachers at various levels, and the numbers of instructional aides and other staff. Data file figures for teachers, aides, and, where possible, other staff are in full-time…

Some pre-instructional misconceptions held by children can persist through scientific instruction and resist changes. Identifying these misconceptions would be beneficial for science instruction. In this preliminary study, scores on a 60-item true-false test of knowledge and misconceptions about earthquakes were compared with previous interview…

A practicum was designed to improve the self-concepts of intermediate grade students and reduce behavior problems in their class. The practicum was implemented for 10 weeks in an alternative education class of 14 low socioeconomic status students with moderate learning and behavior problems. The three strategies employed were: (1) daily peer group…

Research on restructuring domain-specific knowledge suggests that inferences made by a learner are based more on what and how concepts are structured and organized in particular domains than on the age of the learner. In this view, it is possible for children to operate more expertly in a particular area than could be explained by global stage or…

This booklet, written for parents of children entering Virginia's public elementary schools, is designed to help parents help their children during this crucial stage of education. Chapter 1, "Starting Elementary School," discusses requirements for children in kindergarten, readiness for kindergarten, preparing children to enter…

This paper reports findings from the National Institute of Education's Napa County Project, one of four follow through projects funded over a period of four years to develop and implement instructional programs that would improve teaching practices, increase students' academic engaged rates, and increase gain on reading and mathematics achievement…

Informed opinion suggests that problems of underachievement in school relate to the lack of particular kinds of experience, discontinuity between school and home, and linguistic and cultural diversity. If a literacy program were based on up-to-date knowledge of the processes involved in reading and writing, and what is known of early literacy…

A study examined the attitudes of a group of 66 fifth and eighth graders in four classes in an intermediate school located in rural southeast Louisiana toward a set of traditional sex role-typed occupations. Age (grade level) did not appear to influence students' attitudes toward the interrelationship of sex and occupational choice. Furthermore,…

This cross-sectional study, which was designed to assist in the provision of appropriate educational alternatives for students, presents a profile of elementary students who were retained in first grade at Horseheads Central Schools, Little Falls, New York. The study group was the class of 1995-96, currently in grade 4. A total pupil population of…