School effectiveness research has fueled debate on the importance of a press for academic excellence versus communal values. Research on parenting styles offers a theoretical framework that may resolve the debate. We hypothesized that dimensions of parenting styles--demandingness (academic press) and responsiveness (communal values)--predict…

Secondary vocational-technical education programs in Mississippi are faced with many challenges resulting from sweeping educational reforms at the national and state levels. Schools and teachers are increasingly being held accountable for providing true learning activities to every student in the classroom. This accountability is measured through…

Traditionally campus-based courses rely on student evaluations to provide instructors with feedback about their teaching effectiveness. However, current student evaluations of teaching instruments do not adequately assess many of the essential constructivist-based teaching practices recommended for quality online learning experiences. One of the…

According to Keller's Model of Motivation, one technique for increasing learners' motivation, and thus their mental effort, involves increasing the personal relevance of the material. When instruction is perceived as relevant, learners perceive that important personal needs are being met by the learning situation. The purpose of this study was to…

This guide describes eight skills every teacher should learn that were derived from a study of 252 schools in 50 states, American territories and protectorates, and 14 foreign countries over a 16-year period (1980-1996). Interviews were conducted with 769 teachers, 253 administrators, and 23 other school personnel. The skills include: (1) the…

This study considered the effects on lesson completion time of four forms of immediate feedback. Thirty-two low-ability eleventh grade students were randomly assigned to one of four treatments. Each student received four one-page social studies reading passages. Each passage averaged 350 words in length. Eight 4-alternative multiple choice…

A study was done of the relation of time for individual study versus instruction time in a non-traditional, problem-based medical curriculum at the University of Limburg (Netherlands). The study collected data on 86 courses conducted in 5 consecutive academic years. In this problem-based approach, each curriculum year in the first 4 years…

A computer-assisted instruction (CAI) program using Utah PILOT programming language was constructed that includes the same objectives that are taught during the presentation of a traditional library tour. The amount of time necessary to complete the CAI program is approximately the same time needed by a student taking a library tour. The…

This report describes a 12-week program designed to increase time on task for kindergarten students. Members of a targeted group of kindergarten students were identified as being off task an average of 1.9 times more than the rest of the class. A program that incorporated the dominant learning styles of students in the target group with…

Recommending that every state increase the duration and intensity of academic learning time (ALT) in schools, this working paper provides a rationale, discusses related research, offers guidelines for selecting and implementing activities, and describes actions schools can take to implement change. In the discussion, duration refers to the total…

A model is presented for the improvement of compensatory early childhood education through more effective use of student and staff time. A framework for research to test the model is also suggested. Sections of the document prefacing discussion of the model include (1) an overview of the historical antecedents and development of early childhood…

A privately funded project that placed reading aides in the first three grades of the public schools was initiated in a rural county of Mississippi. The program provided a paraprofessional assistant reading instructor who worked under the direction of a classroom teacher to strengthen and enrich children's work in small groups or in an educational…

Social validity data were collected for three educational interventions designed to increase the academic engaged time of elementary special education students: (1) a reading tutorial intervention, (2) a special education consultation intervention, and (3) a home-based consultation intervention. A total of 29 students, 14 parents, 21 teachers, and…

The purpose of this booklet is to relate significant research pertaining to student achievement. Each section defines one of eight research-based variables associated with greater academic achievement and includes some practical applications within school settings. According to the first two sections, high principal and teacher expectations are…

This study sought to determine whether or not student teachers who were trained and required to use a data-based problem-solving approach in their practicum classrooms would obtain higher levels of pupil achievement in reading and mathematics than student teachers who did not receive the training. Student teachers (N=23) were randomly assigned to…