This article describes the Woodcock Diagnostic Reading Battery, an instrument designed to assess the abilities and achievements of individuals ages 4 through 90 in the areas of basic reading skills, reading comprehension, phonological awareness, oral language comprehension, and reading aptitude. Its administration, standardization, reliability,…

Background: Variable- and person-centred analyses were used to examine prediction of middle childhood behaviour problems from earlier child and family measures. Method: A community sample of 164 families, initially recruited at antenatal clinics at two South London practices, was assessed for children's behaviour problems and cognitive ability,…

Mauritius is a multilingual country with English, French and Creole as the main languages, and several ancestral languages which are mainly used for religious ceremonies. Most children speak Creole at home and learn English, French and one ancestral language in the first year of primary school. The educational dropout rate is 40-50% after primary…

Purpose: We systematically measured the associations between environmental design features of nursing home special care units and the incidence of aggression, agitation, social withdrawal, depression, and psychotic problems among persons living there who have Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder. Design and Methods: We developed and tested a…

The research question asked was "Will those children ages three and four who have intensive play experiences in play-based preschools and who can perform at high levels of LEGO building as constructional play also show high levels of mathematical achievement later in formal school settings?". Thus, this study attempts to establish a…

According to recent U.S. census reports, while the population of the United States increased by 10%, the population speaking languages other than English at home increased by 38% between 1980 and 1990. One in six of all youth in the United States, ages 14 to 19, either speaks a language other than English at home, was born in a foreign country, or…

Understanding and preventing high school failure is a national priority. Structural strain and general deviance theories attempt to explain late high school failure. The authors tested the hypotheses that general (vs. specific) deviance and academic competence mediate the relationships between structural strain factors (gender, ethnicity, and…

As a part of the teacher licensure program at the graduate level at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), the M.Ed. Licensure candidate is required to complete an action research project during a 3-semester-hour course that coincides with the 9-semester-hour student teaching experience. This course, Education 590 Culminating…

Over the past 50 years, brain researchers have stated that human beings probably use less than 1 percent of the brain's potential, and research findings about human intelligence have transformed almost all previous definitions of intelligence. This booklet addresses the following key findings in intelligence research: intelligence is not fixed or…

To investigate the effect of heterogeneous and homogeneous instructional groupings used in a middle school eighth grade on selected student behaviors, 120 students were assigned to a heterogeneous group and 120 students to a homogeneous group based on several factors. The heterogeneous group was comprised of all students enrolled in the school…

This report describes barriers to the successful recruitment and retention of African American students in gifted education programs and services, and offers recommendations for ensuring successful recruitment and retention of this population. Barriers to recruitment identified include: inadequate identification practices, too little attention…

This report examines issues in the low achievement of American students in mathematics, with emphasis on the low representation of minority students in this field. American myths about mathematics which emphasize the importance of innate ability rather than hard work are seen as reinforcing racial and gender stereotypes about who can do…

This paper reports on three studies within a 6-year longitudinal study which explored the use of Piagetian sensori-motor substages as a curriculum base for individuals with profound mental retardation (MR). In the first study, a simple observational inventory, the Cognitive Marker Natural Observational Tool (CM-NOT), was developed and evaluated…

This study examines components of a middle school program designed to enable at-risk students to complete the 3 years of middle school in 2 years, and it looks at the progress of eight graduates of the program during their first semester in high school in South Carolina. Over-age students who entered sixth grade and displayed potential were…

Urging educators to abandon the graded system of education, this book advocates the use of a nongraded, continuous approach to education in which students are taught and assessed according to their ability rather than age. The book is divided into 11 chapters. Chapter 1 outlines the history of the graded school movement and argues that conditions…