First-, second-, and third-grade readers were asked to pick items that differed in terms of a rule-governed description of orthographic structure. Task performance improved with school experience. Reading ability was positively correlated with knowledge of orthographic structure for young readers. (Author/PN)

Interview data from 336 mothers of elementary school children were used to examine the relationship between mothers' comments to children about the content of television programs and family communication styles (emphasis on free inquiry and expression for all family members vs. emphasis on family harmony and obedience to parental authority). (PD)

Results from the Colorado Adoption Project, a longitudinal study initiated in 1975, are reported. The cognitive ability of parents and measures of one-year olds' mental development were significantly correlated for all three parent/child comparisons. Caldwell's HOME Responsibility measure was correlated with infant intelligence in adoptive and…

The causal attributions of 184 teachers from metropolitan school districts were found to vary with positive versus negative learning outcomes in terms of both internality/externality and stability of cause. Relations to overall efficacy, teaching experience, grade level taught, and teacher gender were explored; only grade level differences were…

Possible differential relations between social sensitivity and perspective taking and prohibitive and prosocial moral reasoning were assessed for males and females. The levels of principled or internalized reasoning in these content areas were compared. (Author/GK)

College seniors graded lecturers on teaching and course effectiveness. After the students had graduated and been working for a year, they rated teaching effectiveness for former lecturers and nominated the best and worst teachers. Increasing maturity and job experience did not significantly alter student evaluations of relative teaching…

Extensive data on twins, nontwin siblings, siblings separated by adoption, and parent-child similarity indicate that the heritability of intelligence is closer to .50 than to .70. Differences could be due to environmental or genetic changes in the population, or to methodology. (Author/CP)

The path coefficients in an explanatory model of teaching and learning were corrected for error of measurement using generalizability theory. The disattenuation procedure effectively clarified and increased the interpretability of results. (Author/CTM)

This study correlated socioeconomic status as measured by parents' education and material prosperity, with academic achievement and self-confidence scores in 2293 Ugandan students. Self confidence did not correlate to socioeconomic status, as it has been found to do in industrialized societies. Possible reasons for this difference are considered.…

Relationships between mothers' child-rearing attitudes and the school achievement of their 11-year-old children were examined. Results indicated that, in comparison, mothers of under-achieving sons are more dominant, rigid, possessive, and intrusive, while mothers of under-achieving daughters are more dominant, rigid, and protective. (Author/SJL)

The importance of theory and experimental findings in giving direction, structure, and comprehensibility to research about self-concept is discussed. Analysis of the necessary affective variables to be included in the systematic experimentally-based development of effective educational programs in the affective domain is emphasized. (Author/AL)

Used stepwise regression procedures to determine classroom behaviors associated with eight dimensions of reading attitudes among inner-city fifth graders. Classroom behaviors were measured by teacher ratings. Results indicate seven of the eight dimensions of reading attitude showed a significant relationship with some aspect of classroom behavior.…

Situational obstacles stemming from cultural and economic circumstances (migrant status, time away from school for work, etc.) were observed to have at least as much influence on the Mexican American child's educational and occupational aspirations as the more commonly stressed family interaction variables such as parental aspiration and emphasis…

Eighty adolescents, grades 7-9, were assessed on empathy development and perceived competencies. Females proved more empathic than males, but no developmental trends in empathy development were observed. Social competence was positively associated with empathic skills, but cognitive and physical competencies showed a negative association,…

This research supports the proposition that a greater number of public employees results in a higher perception of quality in public servlces and that fewer administrative units per capita also result in a higher perception of quality in public services. (Author/IRT)