Individuals with Down syndrome are predisposed to show a specific behavioural phenotype, or a pattern of strengths and challenges in functioning across different domains of development. It is argued that a developmental approach to researching the Down syndrome behavioural phenotype, including an examination of the dynamic process of the unfolding…

Why is it so challenging to provide pre-service teachers with adequate competence to cope with the complexity of the classroom context? Three key difficulties are frequently reported as reducing the effectiveness of teacher education programs: the construction of an integrated body of knowledge about teaching, the application of theories to…

As currently practiced, value-added assessment relies on a strong assumption about the scales used to measure student achievement, namely that these are interval scales, with equal-sized gains at all points on the scale representing the same increment of learning. Many of the metrics in which test results are expressed do not have this property…

One goal of the National Forum on Education Statistics is to improve the quality of education data gathered for use by policymakers and program decision-makers. One approach to furthering this goal has been to pool the collective experiences of Forum members to produce "best practice" guides in areas of high interest to those who…

Representatives from the Michigan Department of Education and the Center for Educational Performance and Information requested assistance in estimating Michigan's capacity to adequately staff its high schools to meet the course requirements of the new Michigan Merit Curriculum. The study team devised a formula to estimate the number of additional…

This study was designed to answer the question: What is the status of student achievement in middle school mathematics in the Pacific Region jurisdictions? Findings provide a portrait of the types of mathematic assessments used in grades 7 and 8 and of how well students are performing. In addressing the question of mathematics achievement in…

This study reports key findings from a research project, which examined the stress and coping mechanisms of several nondominant groups of individuals. The groups were based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and included (a) Aboriginal individuals with diabetes, (b) individuals with disabilities, and (c) gays and lesbians. Our analyses of personal…

The main purpose of this study was to explore teacher-student verbal interaction in the secondary level classes using the Flanders Interaction Analysis system (FIA). Its findings and conclusions may stimulate teachers at the secondary level to improve their teaching behaviour in order to maximize students' learning.

The effectiveness of within-session and across-session variations of a progressive time delay procedure for teaching sight words was evaluated for five participants with cognitive delays. Participants were exposed to five target stimuli using two variations of progressive time delay procedures in an alternating treatments design, followed by the…

Many universities use electronic portfolios (e-folios) to collect student work and assessment data for accreditation purposes at either the program or unit level. Programs within teacher education can include early childhood, elementary, middle level, and secondary education. For accreditation, each program is responsible for meeting a specific…

Project BudBurst is a national program intended to get students and other "citizen scientists" to participate in a real study about plants, the environment, and climate change. It also provides an excellent opportunity for students to build data-analysis skills. A collaboration of several agencies and universities, the program began last year and…

This study examined the influence of intergenerational assistance with household chores and personal care from sons, daughters, and daughters-in-law on the depressive symptoms of older adults in rural China. The sample derived from rural Anhui Province, a region with a strong hierarchy of support preferences that leads with sons and their…

This study examines whether the mental and physical health of single mothers benefit from marriage or cohabitation compared to childless women who marry. Results indicate that marrying is associated with similar declines in psychological distress for single mothers and childless women, but only when that marriage endures. Single mothers do not…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to evaluate learners' attitudes to the use of simulation-based e-learning as part of workplace learning when socially situated interaction and blended learning are specifically included in the instructional design. Design/methodology/approach: Responses to a survey questionnaire of 298 sales personnel were…

This study investigated the role of native language in the context of online versus face-to-face learning environments. Findings from a mixed-methods analysis revealed that native language was a factor in distinguishing among the learning opportunities in these two classes. Data for the online course were 10 archived asynchronous discussions on…