This report analyzes the effects of multiunit school organization on elementary teachers' patterns of task-related communication. Multiunit teacher work teams, or units, are characterized by discussions between teachers about the intimate details of their daily work; this contrasts with the structurally undifferentiated organization of…

This study examined the value of the American College Testing Program (ACT) and secondary school performance as predictors of academic performance in college. Multiple regression was used to establish a prediction equation for grade-point average (GPA) at the end of the first term of the freshman year as the dependent variable and ACT and high…

The activities and experiences of students who were high school seniors in 1980 were surveyed four years later. Data were provided from the High School and Beyond base-year survey (1980), the first follow-up in 1982, and the second in the spring of 1984, focusing on the graduates' educational, vocational, socioeconomic and familial status, and…

This study investigated the relationships between maternal employment during three periods in the child's life, the child's self-concept, and family orientation. Variables statistically controlled were intactness of the family, father's employment status, the child's sex, the child's race, and the family's socioeconomic status. It was hypothesized…

Hierarchical linear modeling allowed the indentification of specific school characteristics and policies which help explain the relationship between social class and minority status with mathematics achievement, the relationship between social class and minority status with mathematics course enrollment, and school means for achievement and for…

This paper explores various procedures of panel data in the estimation of causal models. The reported analyses are from the Monitoring the Future study, a nationwide questionnaire survey of 16,000 to 17,000 high school seniors conducted annually since 1975. First, the parameters of causal models are estimated in which the dependent variables are…

Random samples of 1979 and 1980 entering freshmen were given the Non-Cognitive Questionnaire (NCQ), which was designed to assess noncognitive dimensions predicting minority student academic success. The validity of the NCQ in predicting graduation after five and six years was determined. The graduation rate was found to differ significantly for…

This report contains four studies related to preparation of youth for employment after leaving school. The first study, "Learning as a Product of Exposure and Readiness" (Hotchkiss), examined the effects of curriculum on the learning of basic skills using an interaction model. The data collected revealed statistically significant interactions…

This paper describes the Manifold Access Model, which has been developed for the simultaneous representation and analysis of the interrelationships between five variable clusters: (1) computer access; (2) personal and social attitudes and values with respect to computer use; (3) self-assessed competence and confidence with respect to computer use;…

A study was conducted to determine if a teacher-constructed cloze procedure correlated significantly with two standardized tests of reading achievement, thereby testing G.D. Spache's claim that most teachers are unable to design valid and reliable assessment materials. Subjects were 60 fourth and sixth grade students who were administered the…

Career attainment levels of black college graduates and predictors of career attainment were studied. Attention was directed to the effect of college control (public/private), college racial composition (traditionally black institutions--TBI and predominantly white institutions--PWI), college grade average, and parents' socioeconomic status on…

This study investigated the development of teachers' conceptions of learning disabilities (LD) as a function of experience with pupils having LD. An expert group of 25 LD-certified special education teachers, a transition group of 24 regular classroom teachers of mainstreamed LD pupils, and a novice group of 20 undergraduate special education…

The relationships between teachers' attitudes toward responsibility and locus of control and other characteristics such as stress, educational attitudes, and attitudes toward change were studied in 54 (35 female and 19 male) experienced primary and secondary school teachers taking a course on classroom-based research. Attitude toward…

This study sought to determine whether there is a set of in-school factors which might help explain the differences in dropout rates among schools with very similar student bodies. The study was designed as an in-depth ethnographic examination of four pairs of Chicago (Illinois) public high schools. One school in each pair had a high dropout rate…

The study reported here employed a quasi-factorial ecological approach to explore the possibility of using economic and social indicators available from the 1980 census to construct a socio-economic status (SES) index. The study hypothesized that if an appropriate factor analysis model could be identified, factor score equations could be used to…