This research report recounts the procedures, results, and recommendations of a research project in which more than 200 tenth-grade students in Florida were tested (1) to determine whether aptitude treatment interaction (ATI) effects on syntactic maturity and on knowledge of structural relationships occur after several months of instruction; (2)…

Research on the differences in motivation to achieve in school among 10 groups of four-year-olds utilized a new, 75-item objective projective test called Gumpgookies. This test was individually administered to approximately 2000 children mainly from low economic backgrounds. The various ethnic and religious groups were compared with respect to…

Demand for child care services has grown steadily over the last few decades due to demographic trends, public policies, newly discovered links between brain development and early environments, and the number of parents entering the labor market for reasons such as welfare reform. As a result, most U. S. children under five spend time on a regular…

This research brief summarizes a report by Christopher Jepsen and Steven Rivkin, "Class Size Reduction, Teacher Quality, and Academic Achievement in California Public Elementary Schools" (2002) [ED497298]. Intuitively, class size reduction is a good idea. Parents support it because it means that their children will receive more…

This study examined the relationship between perceptions of diversity and overall satisfaction in students at the University of Maryland at College Park. An anonymous 100-item questionnaire on cultural attitudes and climate was mailed to first and third year students, with mail and phone call follow-ups resulting in an overall return rate of 60…

This paper is based on a cross-sectional survey comparison of preparation experiences and outcomes using a sample of principals who completed one of five innovative leadership preparation programs between 2000-2005 and a national comparison sample of principals. The primary questions are: (1) How do innovatively-prepared principals and other…

Steele and Aronson (1995) found that the performance of African-American subjects on test items portrayed as a problem-solving task, in a laboratory experiment, was adversely affected when they were asked about their ethnicity. This outcome was attributed to "stereotype threat". Performance was disrupted by the subjects' concerns about…

Currently there is a lack of affordable, accessible, quality child care in America. A substandard child care system not only negatively affects families, but also impacts broader societal and political issues, such as the economy, gender equity, tax and budget policies, and welfare reform. In this report, the authors propose two recommendations to…

Questions 70 politically involved evangelicals on liberal and conservative issues. Discovers a surprising lack of negative correlation (in this instance defined as a strong oppositional belief to positions at the other end of the political spectrum). Discusses possible reasons for this and implications for future research. (MJP)

The relationships among early adolescents' sense of school belonging, perceptions of their friends' academic values, and academic motivation were studied for 301 African American, white (Anglo), and Hispanic students in 2 urban junior high schools. Correlations between school belonging and motivation-related measures is positive and statistically…

This study applied individual growth trajectory analyses and person-oriented analysis to identify common profiles of out-of-school activity engagement trajectories among racially and ethnically diverse inner city teens (N = 1,430). On average, teens exhibited declining trajectories of participation in school-based and team sports activities and…

The purpose of this ethnographic study was to explore the development of belief systems as related to racial and ethnic identities of preservice teachers as they crossed cultural borders into science teaching. Data were collected throughout a yearlong teacher preparation program to learn how early life experiences and racial and ethnic identities…

This article is about one school district's effort to reform its elementary science curriculum through a program of professional development called Science, Parents, Activities and Literature (Science PALs). The differential exposure of the district's K-6 teachers to Science PALs and differences in how well teachers implemented Science PALs-type…

During adolescence, one important career-related decision is the choice of a study in higher education. In this article, a new set of measures for different tasks (i.e., orientation, exploration, commitment) that can be distinguished during this career decision-making process was constructed: the Study Choice Task Inventory (SCTI). A sample of 946…

This study evaluates the validity of two aggression scales for predicting observations of malicious or disruptive behavior at school. Subgroups of a sample of 1,560 children (age 8.6 plus or minus 1.5 years) were assessed using (a) peer nominations of aggression, (b) teacher reports on the Teacher Report Form (TRF) of the Child Behavior Checklist…