In order to facilitate research on the construct of causal attribution, this paper details developmental procedures used to minimize previous deficiencies and proposes a new scale. The first version of the scale was in ipsative form and provided two basic sets of indices: (1) ability, effort, luck, and task difficulty indices in success and…

Recent research on classroom achievement dynamics suggests a conflict of teacher/student values regarding effort expenditure. Student effort is clearly rewarded and the indifferences punished by teachers. From the student perspective, expending effort when risking failure is a potential threat because high effort/failure invites ascriptions to low…

Eighty disadvantaged black third grade students were administered both reading achievement and oral language tests to determine whether the phonology, morphology, and grammar of Black English dialect have more effect on the below-average readers of the group than on those students making satisfactory reading progress. Student scores on the…

A differential diagnosis of three types of severe reading disability cases is presented. The brain damaged-ego disturbed child suffers a defect in the central nervous system which makes it extremely difficult to develop such basic skills as perception, concept formation, and language. The specific brain injury cases, classed as organic remedial,…

This annotated bibliography contains 73 citations ranging in date from 1940 to 1966. However, lists compiled more than 15 years ago were eliminated unless they had unusual depth and merit, and current lists which included only a few scattered items were omitted. Citations include graded lists of fiction and nonfiction tradebooks and textbooks;…

A knowledge of transformational grammar may shed considerable light on a wide variety of ready "lapses." A skillful teacher who understands the origin of these errors may deal with them more effectively than in the past. This thesis is based on the quite widely accepted hypothesis that the grammar of the language has rules which operate in a…

Planning-programming-budgeting systems (PPBS) have been looked on by public-sector organizations as a mechanism to improve the decision process in resource allocation. PPBS requires (1) selecting the overall long-range objectives of the organization and the systematic analysis of various courses of action leading to their attainment; (2) deciding…

During the past year and a half, the University of Toledo has developed a competency-based model for teacher education, the basic elements of which are (a) the explicit statement of performance objectives, (b) one or more sets of instructional procedures specifically designed for attainment of each objective, and (c) criterion-referenced…

The academic suspension policy at Harrisburg Area Community College prescribes minimum grade point averages which must be maintained for students to remain academically eligible. In order to study the effectiveness of this policy, the faculty council held it in abeyance for a period of three semesters. The intent of this research was to compare…

Job enrichment rapidly is becoming one of the most widely used behavioral science strategies for organizational change. And there is scattered but compelling evidence that, under certain conditions, the technique can lead simultaneously to both improved productivity and an increase in the quality of employee work experiences. Yet observations of…

If motivation to read fails to develop, reading failure is the outcome. All of us have very delicately balanced neural systems for integrating incoming sensory inputs, evaluating their significance in the light of past experience, and storing the learning for future use. Autistic and hyperkinetic children apparently have unbalanced neurological…

Two beams forming part of the roof over the swimming pool at the school collapsed. The investigation showed that the cause of the failure was loss of strength due to conversion of high alumina cement concrete followed by sulphate attack leading to disruption of the concrete. The degree of conversion and loss of strength was greater than expected…

In order to discover whether there were any inner-city elementary schools in Massachusetts which were successful in teaching children to read, a two-year study was undertaken. Results of the study, reported in this document, showed that there is no one pattern for success but that there is a process by which schools, either alone or in…

This report presents data on the number of students affected by academic probation or dismissal during 1967-68 at California's institutions of higher education. Section A, the introduction, defines academic probation and academic dismissal. Section B discusses the academic probation and dismissal policies of the various campuses of the University…

Specific difficulties encountered when helping low-achieving students improve their college reading and study skills include pronunciation of new words, low vocabulary, inability to follow directions, spelling problems, and an inability to differentiate between main ideas and details. Some techniques that have been used at San Jose State College,…