Describes a study of Australian secondary school students that identified the conditions and individual characteristics that would best support learners' acceptance of control within hypermedia, based on evidence from the learner control literature. Investigated effects of prior domain knowledge, learning activity structure, ability, and attitudes…

This comment is a response to a paper on noncompletion rates in United Kingdom universities (Johnes and Taylor 1989). The causal inferences are ill founded because they are based on data aggregated to university level. Individual-level data are essential, and data on other levels may also be necessary. (Author/MLW)

Eighty middle-class, ethnically diverse kindergarten (n=40) and fourth-grade (n=40) students rated their current academic competence and predicted their future academic attainment. Results suggest that developmental change in children's judgments about their competence must be understood in terms of interaction between age and classroom…

Investigated the relationships of figural response items and open-ended verbal items in biology to figural and verbal mental aptitudes (n=24). Performance on the verbal items was positively related to verbal ability. Figural response scores were related positively to both figural and verbal abilities. (PR)

Analysis of the relative contribution of age, gender, and verbal and mathematical reasoning abilities (measured by subtests of the Scholastic Aptitude Test) as predictors of success in accelerated secondary science courses found that a composite of verbal and mathematical reasoning ability was the most powerful predictor and verbal reasoning…

Reports on a comparison of the psychosocial adjustment of 50 academically gifted German 10-year olds with 50 of average intelligence 10-year olds. Finds no significant differences between the two groups. Finds elementary school gifted children are at least as socially and emotionally well-adjusted as their nongifted age mates. (CFR)

Addresses the validity of the Cognitive-Affective Response Test-Music by clarifying the theoretical assertions on which the construct validity of the instrument rests. Presents nine specific assertions and data from two studies. Concludes that the test is valid for college-bound high school students. (CFR)

A study examined the processes used by 322 college-bound students, in the course of a year, to choose a college. Sources of information, decision-making activities, and college selection criteria were considered. Results indicate shifts in information sources and decision-making activities, differences in higher ability students, and gender…

This article argues that the literature offers inconclusive evidence to support Ontario initiatives mandating destreaming of students by ability level. Issues discussed include academic performance, segregation on the basis of academic ability, opportunity for equality of academic outcomes, drop-out rates, attitudes, and sociological constructs.…

Using High School and Beyond data for 14,825 sophomores, the effect of school-average ability on academic outcomes was measured in the sophomore and senior years of high school and 2 years after graduation. Academic self-concept and educational aspirations mediated a negative relationship between school-average ability and academic outcomes. (TJH)

Applied multivariate causal modeling techniques to study of college women's (N=663) career development. Found the independent variables ability and agentic characteristics predicted career choice; agentic characteristics and sex role attitudes predicted career orientation. (Author/CM)

Uses a hierarchical linear model to test the effect of birthdate on science ability in British schoolchildren, ages 11, 13, and 15. Reports that summer-born children scored lower than autumn-born children on science survey tests. Urges teachers to consider these artificial performance differences when grouping pupils according to ability for…

Measures of self-perception and social support were administered to 189 third through sixth graders in Seoul, Korea. Found that teacher support contributed to children's perceived physical appearance and athletic competence and that peer support contributed to children's perceived social acceptance and behavioral conduct. (BC)

Female elementary school teachers (n=42) were asked to identify the scientific skills that each student in their class displayed to determine differences in their perceptions of the scientific ability of girls and boys. Teachers perceived boys to be more cognitively intellectual and girls to be more cognitive process in their scientific abilities.…

Uses National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data to examine whether measures of male teenagers' skills (academic, reasoning, and self-esteem) predict their wages at ages 27 and 28. All three skill types help predict subsequent wages, but have differing importance in explaining white/minority wage gaps. (Contains 37 references.) (MLH)