A Friedman Foundation report attempts to find empirical support for the contention that competition from private schools, through voucher programs, improves the effectiveness of public schools. In the first year of Ohio's new EdChoice voucher program, the report claims to have found substantial academic gains at public schools exposed to the…

To examine how neighborhood characteristics influence academic achievement, data were drawn from a community survey of low-income neighborhoods and linked with data on performance on standardized testing for third-grade students attending elementary schools in those communities. Results of multilevel logistic regressions indicated that probability…

Spatial abilities are fundamental to human functioning in the physical world. Spatial reasoning allows people to use concepts of shape, features, and relationships in both concrete and abstract ways, to make and use things in the world, to navigate, and to communicate. Surgeons, pilots, architects, engineers, mechanics, builders, farmers, trades…

Concerns over equity, access, and fairness of placement testing have resulted in state regulations requiring validity evidence of the placement test with respect to a criterion variable, such as final course grades. A study was conducted to assess the validity of placement tests used to place students in pre-collegiate and college-level English…

This study investigated the predictors of school mobility and the influence of mobility on grade 6 math and reading achievement. The sample included 988 urban, low-economic status black children participating in a longitudinal study of the effects of preschool intervention. Fifty-eight percent of the students changed schools at least once.…

This study tried to determine how well a combination of junior/senior undergraduate grade point average, standardized test scores, and writing sample scores can predict a student's success in a graduate College of Education. The study used data on 164 students selected to have a slight over-representation of students with lower Miller Analogies…

School motivation and achievement for an individual is the product of a complex set of interacting goals, goals which may be more or less significant to individuals from different cultural backgrounds. This paper describes a project which examines the nature of goals held by students from different cultural groups, the compatibility of these goals…

In February 1995, the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF), in Alabama, conducted a study to determine if experience as a technical training instructor enhanced the promotion potential/probability of enlisted Air Force personnel. Air Force records were reviewed for a random sample of personnel, representing 11% of personnel with current or…

In this study, learners worked with a simulation of harmonic oscillation. Two supportive measures were introduced: model progression and assignments. In model progression, the model underlying the simulation is not offered in its full complexity from the start, but variables are gradually introduced. Assignments are small exercises that help the…

A study was undertaken at Willmar Community College (WCC), in Minnesota, to assess the effectiveness of the developmental writing program and to identify which demographic and educational characteristics predicted final grades in college-level English courses. The study sample included all students who enrolled at WCC during the 1992-93 academic…

This study explored the appropriateness of kinship care placements by examining the adjustment of 46 children, most of whom were Caucasian, in their grandparents' care. Members of support groups for grandparents who are raising grandchildren were solicited for participation in the study. All participants were the primary caregivers of at least one…

This study examined whether the use of trend analysis combined with analysis of persistence variables can be used to establish a model to forecast the first-year persistence of college freshmen. A linear model was created using data on 2,603 first-time freshmen at a moderate-sized comprehensive university from fall 1989 through fall 1993. The…

A study examined the impact of written feedback on goals and self-efficacy, and the impact of goals and self-efficacy on changes in writing performance. Subjects were 137 students in a second-semester freshman-level college English composition class and 5 second-semester graduate assistant teachers. Consistent with social learning theory, results…

The evolution of the family concerns health educators because family environment has been consistently linked to development of various addictions and negative behaviors, such as drug and alcohol abuse, eating disorders, workaholism, excessive exercise, sexual promiscuity, vandalism, youth crime, and violence and abuse. It is recognized that a…

One of the most important tasks of childhood is to develop and maintain socially competent relationships with peers. Some children are easily accepted and liked by their peers, while other children experience problems in their relationship with peers and are rejected by the peer group. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the factors…