To examine the effects of the language experience approach (LEA) on beginning reading achievement, a study analyzed five projects conducted as part of the United States Office of Education first grade studies and 32 additional studies comparing basal reading approaches to LEA. Using two methods of quantitative synthesis (vote-counting and…

Instructional materials for siSwati are designed for Peace Corps volunteer language and cultural training. The materials are in five parts. Part 1 contains bilingual readings containing factual information on Swaziland, including history, geography, industry, and its neighboring countries. This section is bilingual, with one page in siSwati and…

Using data produced by a 1987 national survey of approximately 2,400 rural school board presidents, district superintendents, principals, and teachers, this report focuses on special concerns and strengths revealed by 351 respondents from rural, small schools in 7 Northeastern states (Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York,…

This paper describes the efforts of the Talent Identification Program (TIP) of North Carolina to relate American College Testing (ACT) Assessment and Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores of academically talented seventh graders. The study was also designed to interpret the results in the context of "concordance" studies that have been…

This commemorative book contains 10 papers that provide a selective sample of behavioral and social science research accomplishments and trends over a 50-year period, and comparisons are made with research presented in the 1933 report, "Recent Social Trends in the United States" (The Ogburn Report). Four chapters in part 1,…

This study examined the relative worth of the various components of the teacher education program offered to graduates of the University of Manitoba for the years 1978 and 1984. Because it was assumed that teachers' assessments of the value of various aspects of their training program would change with experience, two populations with different…

Available sources of information on academic achievement levels of American elementary and secondary school students as compared to their counterparts in major foreign countries are analyzed. Focus is on testing conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) in Stockholm (Sweden). The IEA tests…

This is the second of two reports on the first year activities and results of the Systems Thinking and Curriculum Innovation Project (STACI), a two-year project which is examining the cognitive demands and consequences of using the STELLA (Structural Thinking Experimental Learning Laboratory with Animation) software to teach systems thinking,…

The National Teachers Examinations (NTE) Core Battery scores of initially certified teachers in North Carolina were compared with teaching effectiveness scores. Teacher effectiveness scores were obtained using the Teacher Performance and Appraisal Instrument (TPAI)--a classroom observation instrument used by a trained team of observers. The TPAI…

Instructional sensitivity indices are compared from four perspectives: (1) criterion-referenced testing; (2) classical test theory; (3) item response theory; and (4) Bayesian theory. Instructional sensitivity is defined as the tendency of a test item to vary in difficulty as a function of instruction. The instructional sensitivity of the items in…

Factors that are most important to institutional effectiveness in the production of black baccalaureates were studied. A further concern was how these factors can be translated into policies and practices for undergraduate institutions that have not traditionally served black students. An effectiveness quotient was developed as an overall measure…

With the use of verbal report strategies, a study was conducted to examine (1) the types of comprehension strategies readers use to process familiar and less familiar texts and (2) the differential use of think aloud strategies by average and below average readers. Subjects were 15 tenth grade male students in upstate New York. Two weeks prior to…

Teaching and learning activities that occurred in large university classes were studied with attention to the extent students are being involved and whether that involvement makes a difference in their attitudes and performance. At the University of Texas at Austin, 19 large (100 students and larger) classes, representing the college of liberal…

Hispanics in the U.S. labor force are the subject of the studies in this volume. After an introduction by George J. Borjas and Marta Tienda, the first three papers focus on the same issue: the determination of wage rates for Hispanics and comparison of Hispanic and non-Hispanic wage rates. Cordelia Reimers compares the situation for Black, White,…

This paper has two purposes: (1) to examine whether Puerto Ricans, non-Puerto Rican Hispanics, and Blacks suffer substantial wage discrimination relative to comparable Whites; and (2) to examine the extent to which employers in the Federal and non-Federal sectors discriminate by race or ethnicity in making wage offers. After a discussion of…