A study traced the experiences of Australian working families as their children started formal schooling. Each family faced the prospect of moving their child or children from the intimate environment of a child care center that operated from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. to a large elementary school with a 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day. The study focused on:…

This study examined the relation of conduct problems and depressed mood to tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use in 6th through 11th grades. A total of 200 at-risk 6th-grade boys completed an extensive assessment that involved interviews, home observations, questionnaires, test data, telephone interviews, court records, and school…

The long-term effects of undergraduate involvement on advanced degree attainment and career choice were studied. The longitudinal study involved 299 freshmen who entered college between 1973 and 1976 and participated in the institutional research program's followup questionnaire 17-20 years later. Astin's Input-Environment Outcomes model and…

Despite increased availability and support for computers, relatively few teachers have integrated them into their teaching. This paper summarizes four studies that studies were conducted, two with independent groups of practicing teachers and two conducted longitudinally with a single group, first when they were preservice undergraduate teachers,…

This study provides a profile of variables related to the status of students at risk of failure in public high schools in American Samoa during the 1993-94 school year. It is part of a larger study looking at high schools in some of the 10 American-affiliated Pacific political entities. In American Samoa, data were collected from 50 student…

Researh in motivation and learning has demonstrated that differences in instructional practice influence the salience of learning and ability goals for students. This study considers several factors that may influence teachers' emphases in instructional practices--teachers' pedagogical beliefs, their achievement goals for their students, and their…

In recent months the idea of a single national test seems to have lost some of its momentum, while use of national standards to which voluntary regional or state tests would be indexed seems to have gained support. Nationally, there does not seem to be any organized attempt to fuse the national education goals into the state process beyond the…

This study examined the accuracy of predictions of college grades in English, mathematics, social studies, and natural science courses, and the accuracy of predictions of overall freshman grade point average (GPA) based on American College Testing Program (ACT) assessment test scores and on high school course work and grade information from the…

A longitudinal study called The Home-School Study of Language and Literacy Development examined the relationships between the kinds of talk that children experience at home and school at ages 3 and 4 and measures of literate abilities at age 5. Subjects, 87 children in 2 cohorts of 42 and 45 children from low-income families living in the Boston,…

The relationship between scores on the American College Test (ACT) and grade point averages of first-time college freshmen after the first year of study was investigated by correlating ACT composite scores and grade point averages (GPAs). ACT scores and GPAs were obtained for 100 first-time freshmen at an urban state university in Illinois. There…

Alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use among public school students continues to be a major concern in Oregon as it is across the nation. This report, the sixth of the biannual public school drug use surveys conducted in Oregon since 1986, discusses major findings. These findings are (1) marijuana use is up for both the eighth and eleventh grades;…

The Communication Theory and Methodology section of the Proceedings contains the following 20 papers: "Information Sufficiency and Risk Communication" (Robert J. Griffin, Kurt Neuwirth, and Sharon Dunwoody); "The Therapeutic Application of Television: An Experimental Study" (Charles Kingsley); "A Path Model Examining the…

This paper analyzed time to degree and enrollment intensity (number of hours earned each quarter) for Ohio State University baccalaureate recipients. Using an investment theory framework based on an organizational behavior model, the study sought to determine whether commitment propensity variables were important in explaining degree commitment,…

This study examined first- to second-semester persistence of first-time, full-time college freshmen at a public four-year institution, focusing on Tinto's (1993) concept of separation. Data were collected from 689 first-time, full-time freshmen using the Cooperative Institutional Research Program 1995 Student Information Form, and from 411…

A British longitudinal study of language acquisition was followed up for further information on the relationship between language acquisition, language aptitude, and second language learning. One of the original cohorts (n=23), now in secondary school, was originally studied for native language learning achievement and was now being studied for…