Heterogeneity of variance may be more than a statistical nuisance--it may be of direct interest as a result of individual differences. In studies of short-term fluctuation, individual differences may relate to the magnitude of within-person variation as well as to level of an outcome or its covariation with other processes. Although models for…

Recent scholars have dismissed the utility of self-esteem as well as programs designed to improve it. The authors challenge these contentions on conceptual, methodological, and empirical grounds. They begin by proposing that the scope of recent analyses has been overly narrow and should be broadened to include specific as well as global…

Schools and school systems throughout the nation are increasingly experimenting with using various instructional technologies to improve productivity and decrease costs, but evidence on both the effectiveness and the costs of education technology is limited. A recent report published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute sets out to describe "the…

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher practices of enabling factors in the implementation of technology-assisted PBL, in Tatweer schools in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This study also explored how the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards for Teachers (NETS.T) were used in Tatweer…

Opportunity to Learn (OTL) stems from the basic premise that there is an important relationship between the quality and intensity of classroom instruction and students' levels of academic success. For many students with disabilities, an emphasis on OTL has become national priority, yet measuring its impact is a complex challenge. The first purpose…

The student response system (SRS) is marketed as a reliable tool for improving students' academic attainment. However, findings to the question of whether or not the SRS does improve the learning outcomes of ESL [English as a Second Language] learners in primary education are not well documented in the research literature. Despite the wide use of…

Community colleges continue to experience growth in online courses. This growth reflects the need to increase the numbers of students who complete certificates or degrees. Retaining online students, not to mention assuring their success, is a challenge that must be addressed through practical institutional responses. By leveraging existing student…

At most colleges and universities, African American and Latino students are less likely than students from other racial and ethnic backgrounds to stay enrolled in college and are, therefore, less likely to earn a college degree. "The Digest of Educational Statistics" reports the following trends: in 2006 30% of Whites age 25 and older…

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of Digital storytelling (DST) on the academic achievement, critical thinking, and learning motivation of senior high school students learning English as a foreign language. The one-year study adopted a pretest and posttest quasi-experimental design involving 110 10th grade students in two English…

This study examined the substance use and delinquency outcomes for the nearest age siblings of substance abusing and delinquent adolescents that participated in a randomized clinical trial evaluating the effectiveness of integrating evidence-based practices into juvenile drug court. The sample of 70 siblings averaged 14.4 years of age, 50% were…

Behavioural inhibition in the second year of life is a hypothesized predictor for shyness, social anxiety and depression in later childhood, adolescence and even adulthood. To search for the earliest indicators of this fundamental temperamental trait, this study examined whether behavioural characteristics in early infancy can predict behavioural…

This study considered whether sensitivity to speech rhythm can predict concurrent variance in reading attainment after individual differences in age, vocabulary, and phonological awareness have been controlled. Five- to six-year-old English-speaking children completed a battery of phonological processing assessments and reading assessments, along…

Approximately 30% of healthy persons aged over 75 years show A[beta] deposition at autopsy. It is postulated that this represents preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD). We evaluated the relationship between A[beta] burden as assessed by PiB PET and cognitive decline in a well-characterized, non-demented, elderly cohort. PiB PET studies and…

As frontline mental health care providers, social workers need to be prepared to confront and properly manage substance abuse issues in practice. This study examined predictors of recent master of social work (MSW) graduates' perceptions of preparedness to practice in the area of substance abuse. A cross-sectional design was used, and 232 recent…

In this study, the authors analyze the 2003 Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey to investigate whether freshmen who intend to study abroad express a history of active involvement. The CIRP Freshman Survey has a number of items indicating student involvement and participation. The authors created six scales based on…