This booklet is one in a series of "hot topics" reports produced by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory. These reports briefly address current educational concerns and issues as indicated by requests for information that come to the Laboratory from the Northwest region and beyond. This document focuses on student attendance. During a…

There is decades of research on the correlation between grades and standardized test scores. Much of what the author accessed was published in the 70s and 80s, partly because a scare around "the declining American SAT score" led to an examination of the tests (the drop can easily be explained by the fact that many students who might not…

A new Request for Proposals (RFP) targeted to the retention of science and mathematics teachers is the Commission's most recent initiative under the federal Improving Teacher Quality Program. This report summarizes that initiative and reports on other current activities in the program.

The purpose of this applied dissertation was to gain an in-depth understanding of the factors that lead to retention of exceptional student education (ESE) teachers and what role leaders play at the school level in influencing quality teachers to remain in the field of education. The attrition rate of ESE teachers nationwide grows as school…

Commenting on Donna Kerr's ideas for improving teaching (Teachers College Record, Spring 1983), Goodlad points to three factors that discourage able students from becoming teachers: (1) salary structure; (2) job dissatisfaction; and (3) lack of opportunities for promotion. Goodlad compares his own proposals for educational improvement with those…

Using a structural equation model of educational attainment, a study extends and supports previous investigations of educational discontinuities among American White and Black males and females by using data from a national longitudinal study. (MSE)

A plan for promoting excellence in teaching is proposed, which would designate 10 to 15 percent of a school's staff "distinguished teachers." This group would receive salary increases and would be staggered over the years. Parents, former students, administrators, and other teachers would help select the group. (PP)

An extension of Tinto's model of the college dropout process was tested with freshmen at an Australian university. The college entrance examination was a relatively valid predictor of whether students will pass, achieve honors, or fail or withdraw. Nonintellective factors were not valid predictors of academic progress. (Author/BW)

Data on student achievement and background and teacher training, experience, and hiring date, gathered from 400 urban midwestern elementary students and teachers, confirmed that differences in the quality of teachers hired during different time periods (the "vintage" effect) strongly affect the relationship between teaching experience…

Describes the Personal Employment Program, a four-week training and development experience that enables CETA participants to secure unsubsidized employment. The last two weeks of the program emphasize job search interactions. The program is successful in finding employment for program completers but has a low completion rate. (AJC)

Five groups of undergraduate students (dropouts, low stopouts, low persisters, high stopouts, and high persisters) were compared in terms of their use of various campus facilities and their responses to a checklist of personal problems. The use of campus facilities is correlated with continuance in school. (Author/MLW)

In two studies, experienced teachers who demonstrated enthusiasm and commitment to self improvement listed causes of teacher burnout, including: (1) the repetitiveness of physical education teaching; (2) additional employment; and (3) inability to cope effectively with both teaching and coaching. (JN)

Specifies some problems in the Piagetian characterizations of assimilation and accommodation and offers an alternative formulation intended to resolve some conceptual anomalies. On the basis of the revision, the orthogenetic law of developmental progression is explicitly derived. Further, Piaget's notion of "equilibrium" is extended into…

A comprehensive theoretical model designed to explain the academic satisfaction, residential living satisfaction, academic performance, and retention of college students is presented. The model is tested against data obtained from a state university. Use of the model to test the effect of institutional policy measures on retention is described.…