Elementary and secondary school teachers were asked to rate the sources that influence their decisions on what they teach in their subject areas. Possible influential sources were identified as: (1) district consultants; (2) state or district recommended textbooks; (3) state curriculum guides; (4) commercially prepared materials; (5) teachers' own…

Ethnographic observations and teacher interviews were conducted in desegregated first grade classrooms to examine teachers' attitudes toward black female students, black females' orientations toward teachers, and black females' peer expectations. The research indicated that: (1) teachers considered black girls to have average or slightly below…

The purpose of this study was to determine the status of teacher admissions in institutions which are members of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. A concomitant purpose was to determine, by comparison with a national study in 1972 on the same topic, emerging trends in teacher education. A questionnaire that was similar,…

In fall 1981, a survey of students enrolled in the 27 community colleges in Washington was conducted to determine student background characteristics and educational objectives, self-ratings of abilities, types of college courses taken, types of learning activities participated in during particular courses, reasons for and for not enrolling in…

The first set of National Longitudinal Study (NLS) data was analyzed to derive composite scores to be used in subsequent analyses. The composites include a general ability measure, a socioeconomic status (SES) index, and factor scores from factor analyses of sets of question items measuring goals, attitudes, and other psychological attributes. The…

This study involved the manipulation of question-asking in a learning task. The hypothesis that learners should ask the most questions when their knowledge was well-matched to the level of presentation was tested, using two levels of background knowledge and two levels of difficulty of material to be learned. The more simple instructional…

To investigate change in the general self concept of ability of educable mentally retarded special class students, four equally spaced interviews were conducted with 51 students (mean age 11.63) over a 2-year period. Pupils answered questions about their academic ability from the General Self-Concept of Ability Scale; scores showed an ascending…

This module on assessing students' personal characteristics is one of a set of seven on vocational students and is part of a larger series of thirty-four modules constituting a core curriculum intended for use in the professional preparation of vocational educators in the areas of agricultural, business, home economics, and industrial education.…

A sample of high school seniors was surveyed in spring 1972 to provide baseline data for the NCES National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972. The First-Followup Survey of this sample took place in fall 1973. This report describes how these young adults changed during this period of about 1-1/2 years with regard to their view of…

Individualization of education has been variously defined, from fairly narrow and circumscribed to fairly extensive and comprehensive definitions. The development of a comprehensive procedure for the individualization of education involves consideration of such factors as family/personal, instructional systems, data access, and decision rule…

This study was designed to test the validity of using creativity and academic motivation variables, in addition to the traditional variables of scholastic aptitude and high school GPA, as predictors of college GPA. The sample consisted of the 1973-74 freshman class at the College of Basic Studies (CBS) at Boston University; CBS is a two-year…

The development of psychological methods for assessing the abilities of deaf students could aid in the formation of educational programs and the provision of vocational guidance. A battery of tests designed to measure a wide range of functions was administered to all eighth grade students, average age 15, in schools for the deaf in Sweden. All…

Studies are reviewed showing that the social status of a high school has a small independent effect on the college intentions of its students, over and above the effects of their family status and mental ability. This finding is analyzed with data from the Educational Testing Service's 1955 sample of 35,330 students in 518 American high schools.…

The Admission Index, created from high school counselor ratings of academic promise and motivation, is recommended to admission officers and college counselors as a variable as good or better than those traditionally used from the cognitive domain. This index was found not only to be substantially valid and consistent as an achievement motivation…

The second enclosure to the study of attrition at the five federal service academies reviews 87 related studies, about half of all those done by, for, or about the academies in the last 10 years. One general observation is that relationships have been established between attrition and student characteristics, whereas the same is not true in…