Schools use a variety of ways to group students for instruction; most prevalent in middle level schools seems to be ability grouping. Arguments once considered persuasive for ability grouping are losing influence given evidence that the practice results in few achievement benefits and several negative effects. This Digest discusses attitudes…

In her first year as superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools, Beverly Hall encountered what she describes as the nearly universal disbelief that poor children of color can achieve high levels of learning. This chapter recounts how she confronted this and other obstacles and challenges as the new leader of the Atlanta Public Schools. Hall is…

This article presents findings from a 4-year study of 13 culturally and linguistically diverse elementary schools implementing comprehensive school reform (CSR) models. The study focused on: (a) the actions at the state and district levels that facilitated or inhibited reform implementation; (b) the adaptability of the various reforms in…

In the state of Florida, several of the principles of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) have been enacted earlier than at the federal level. For example, the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) is required for all students through grade 10 and must be passed for promotion to grade 3 and for high school graduation. Schools are graded A through…

One of five modules in the curriculum development series of the 16-module series designed to train vocational education curriculum specialists, this module is intended for use in classes or individual study arrangements at the preservice or inservice level by students with varying amounts of experience in vocational education. (These modules are…

Steven Barnett and Clive Belfield examine the effects of preschool education on social mobility in the United States. They note that under current policy three- and four-year-old children from economically and educationally disadvantaged families have higher preschool attendance rates than other children. But current programs fail to enroll even…

Two studies are described which capitalize on the strengths of the instructional development process for research purposes. Typically, developed courses have carefully-designed learning environment specifications, replicable instructional treatments, and well-proven achievement measures. A battery of questionnaires and rating scales concerning…

Commissioned in February 1975, the Task Force assessed stakeholder identified needs to determine whether or not new measures and/or changes in programs and funding procedures were necessary or desirable at the time to respond to the special needs, if any, of Northern Albertans. Local people gathered and analyzed information provided by school…

Data reported in this paper are drawn from The American College Testing Program (ACT) files of student records collected over the five year period from 1970-71 to 1974-75 through administration of the ACT Assessment Program. The data from 1970-71 and 1971-72 represent a five percent random sample and the data from 1972-73, 1973-74, and 1974-75, a…

This issue brief, based on a meeting of a group of distinguished researchers, educators, and policymakers convened by the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) explores lessons from research and practice about the role of an intentional curriculum and professional development and supports for teachers in closing the achievement gap for…

The "Pell Grants" machine-readable data file (MRDF) is a subfile of the "High School and Beyond (HS&B) Class of 1980 Survey," which was administered in 1980 to a national sample of over 30,000 sophomores and 28,000 seniors from 1,015 schools throughout the United States. The "Pell Grants" file contains data from…

The ending of high school years is a critical time for most young people. It is a period when significant developmental tasks confront the adolescent; these tasks, if mastered, contribute to healthy and satisfactory growth into adulthood. Self-esteem, locus of control, and attitudes toward work, community, and family orientations are especially…

Though a previous study examined the data for vocational-technical students provided by the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, it did not exhaust the possibilities for evaluation of the data. The current study concentrated on three specific areas of analysis: (1) educational characteristics of students and selected…

A review of the literature on the validity and reliability of survey data is presented prior to an analysis of the reliability of selected questions in the Second Followup Questionnaire of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS). The reliability study includes an evaluation of test-retest reliability as a function of…

In investigating educational goals, academic performance, academic self-esteem, and educational attainment, researchers should realize the importance of the school environment as well as individual student characteristics. To evaluate the significance of school effects, a project was undertaken to ascertain why students in high status schools were…