bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Do Individualized Mastery and Traditional Instructional Systems Yield Different Course Effects in College Calculus?
Authors: Thompson Samuel B.
Published: March 2008

The effects of an individualized mastery instructional system similar to the Keller plan was compared with a conventional lecture-discussion-recitation system in a variety of ways including mathematics achievement and fail rate in the comparison course and subsequent mathematics courses, mathematics reading comprehension, facilitation of performance in other disciplines, student study time, faculty time required for instructional system operation, preference of students and instructors, and student propensity for continued math-related studies. The comparisons spanned 2 years and were carried out under controlled conditions in a balanced, experimental design involving random assignments of 840 students and 12 instructors. In general, the superiority of achievement and attitude outcomes claimed for the Keller plan in many reports was not observed in this study.
Meta-analysis of Research on Class Size and Its Relationship to Attitudes and Instruction
Authors: Smith Mary Lee , Glass Gene V
Published: March 2008

Features of 59 studies of this relationship were coded and quantified and 371 findings were transformed into a common metric for statistical integration. Analysis, based on a logarithmic model, revealed a substantial relationship between class size and teacher and pupil attitudes as well as instruction. Favorable teacher effects (workload, morale, attitudes toward students) are associated with smaller classes as are favorable effects on students (self-concept, interest in school, participation). Smaller classes are associated with greater attempts to individualize instruction and better classroom climate. The results complement those of a previous meta-analysis that showed positive effects of class size on achievement.
Reactions to Achievement Behavior From a Teacher and Student Perspective: A Developmental Analysis
Authors: Harari Oren , Covington Martin V.
Published: March 2008

Participants from first grade through college (N = 168) evaluated the achievement behavior of hypothetical students differing in ability, effort expenditure, and test outcome, both from the perspective of student and teacher. Perceptions of teacher values were consistent over age: Effort and outcome were perceived as highly salient cues for determining degree of teacher rewards and punishment, with student ability level being of little relevance. In contrast, student perspectives indicated a high valuation of ability across all grade levels. Moreover, whereas effort was strongly valued in elementary school, inconsistencies appeared in junior high school such that by high school and college a devaluation of effort occurred. This progressive devaluation was associated with an evolving student belief that low-effort expenditure implies higher ability.
Testing the Simplex Assumption Underlying Bloom's Taxonomy
Authors: Hill P. W. , McGaw B.
Published: March 2008

In an attempt to resolve conflicting conclusions arising from previous analyses, the LISREL method of Jöreskog was applied to the data of Kropp and Stoker. It was found that the simplex assumption underlying Bloom's taxonomy is supported when the knowledge category is deleted from the taxonomy.
The Relative Influence of Course Level, Course Type, and Instructor on Students' Evaluations of College Teaching
Authors: Marsh Herbert W. , Overall J. U.
Published: March 2008

College students (N = 1,374) evaluated teaching effectiveness both at the end of each course (N = 100) and again 1 year after graduation. Mean end-of-term ratings were similar to those collected after graduation, and the two sets of ratings were highly correlated (median r = .83). The purpose of this study was to determine the relative contribution of course level (undergraduate vs. graduate), course type (accounting, economics, finance, etc.), and the specific instructor in determining evaluations of teaching. Results showed variance attributable to the specific instructor was much larger than that due either to course level or course type for both end-of-term and follow-up ratings, and the effects were stable. These findings indicate that both the type of course and the level at which it is taught are relatively less important in determining the outcome of student ratings than who teaches it.
Sex Role Expectations of Classroom Teachers, Grades 1–12
Authors: Benz Carolyn R. , Pfeiffer Isobel , Newman Isadore
Published: March 2008

The effect of the variables of student sex, grade level, and student achievement on teacher sex role expectations was assessed. Two hundred responses from 70 classroom teachers on the Teacher Sex Role Perception inventory (an adaptation of the Bem Sex Role Inventory) were analyzed. Of the four variables considered, student achievement alone was a highly significant predictor. Teachers classified high-achieving students as androgynous and masculine. Low-achieving students were classified as feminine and undifferentiated. This negative relationship between the feminine sex role and high achievement may be a factor in declining female achievement over grade level.
Triggering a Schema: The Role of Italics and Intonation in the Interpretation of Ambiguous Discourse
Authors: Pratt Michael W. , Krane Ann Robins , Kendall Janet Ross
Published: March 2008

Anderson and associates have demonstrated that the interpretation of ambiguous discourse is strongly influenced by general schemata determined by a reader's background and previous experience. In two experiments, we show that variations in paralinguistic stress cues, based upon Chafe's given-new and contrastiveness notions, can also influence which frameworks subjects use in comprehending Anderson's two ambiguous passages. This schematic triggering was demonstrated consistently when tests were presented visually with focal stress indicated by italics, and less consistently when the passages were presented aurally with increased intensity and pitch conveying stress. Differential stress patterns appear to evoke a particular message interpretation by influencing the accessibility of the available interpretive schemata. Educational implications of such schematic-triggering phenomena are discussed.
Effects of Notetaking Pretraining and Test Mode Expectations on Learning from Lectures
Authors: Carrier Carol A. , Titus Amy
Published: March 2008

Effects of pretraining subjects to use a notetaking system while listening to a lecture were compared with those of giving subjects no pretraining. A second variable was test mode expectation: One-third of the subjects were told they would be given a multiple-choice test; another third of the subjects, an essay test; the final third were told only that they would be tested. A 35-item objective test was given immediately after the lecture and a free recall test was given one week after the lecture. The design was a 2 × 3 factorial with a total of 100 high school students serving as subjects. ANOVAs on performance scores for the objective and free recall tests and scores reflecting the efficiency of the notes themselves showed several significant interactions between the two independent variables. From this study and others, recommendations for educators who wish to improve the notetaking skills of students are included.
Structural Characteristics and Citation Rates of Education Journals
Authors: Smart John C. , Elton Charles F.
Published: March 2008

The frequency with which scientific papers are cited in the journal literature has been shown to be related to the quality and scholarly stature of individual scientists, academic departments, and scientific journals. This study demonstrates that nearly two-thirds of the variability in the citation frequency of 148 education journals can be explained by five structural characteristics of these journals. The relative importance of each structural characteristic and its relationship to qualitative considerations are discussed. The practical implications of these findings for those responsible for the administration of institutions of higher learning and their contribution to the study of the scientific communication process of the field of educational research are presented.
Acquisition of Lecturing Skills by University Teaching Assistants: Some Effects of Interest, Topic Relevance, and Viewing a Model Videotape
Authors: Sharp Gregory
Published: March 2008

Thirty-seven graduate teaching assistants participating in an instructional improvement program were randomly assigned to treatment and control (modeling, no modeling) groups for this study. The use of a model videotape, the subjects' interest in the instructural topic, and their assessment of the relevance of that topic were measured to determine possible effects of those variables on subsequent acquisition of the modeled behaviors. Results of a stepwise multiple regression analysis indicated: (a) modeling did produce a significant effect on the acquisition of modeled behaviors, and (b) observers need not perceive the modeled topic as interesting or relevant in order for a model videotape to be effective.
The Unit of Analysis: Group Means Versus Individual Observations
Authors: Hopkins Kenneth D
Published: March 2008

This paper shows that the common recommendation to use group means when there may be nonindependence among observational units is unnecessary, unduly restrictive, impoverishes the analysis, and limits the questions that can be addressed in a study. When random factors are properly identified and included in the analysis, the results (Fs and critical Fs) are identical in balanced ANOVA designs, irrespective of whether group means or individual observations are employed. The use of individual observations also allows the exploration of other interesting questions pertaining to interaction and generalizability. In addition, the pooling strategy can be considered. Thus, the question of the proper experimental unit or unit of analysis for treatment effects is answered directly, correctly, and implicitly when the proper statistical model is employed.
A Follow-up of Follow Through: The Later Effects of the Direct Instruction Model on Children in Fifth and Sixth Grades
Authors: Becker Wesley C , Gersten Russell
Published: March 2008

The later effects of the Direct Instruction Follow Through program were assessed at five diverse sites. Low-income fifth and sixth graders who had completed the full 3 years of this first- through third-grade program were tested on the Metropolitan Achievement Test (Intermediate level) and the Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT). Results were contrasted with those of children in local comparison groups using analysis of covariance procedures. Results indicated consistently strong, significant effects in WRAT reading scores (decoding), consistent effects in math problem solving and spelling, and moderate effects in most other academic domains. Students appeared to retain the knowledge and problem-solving skills they had mastered in the primary grades. However, without a continuing program, most students demonstrated losses when compared to the standardization sample of the achievement tests. Implications for improved instruction in the intermediate grades were discussed.
Requests and Responses in Peer-directed Reading Groups
Authors: Wilkinson Louise Cherry , Calculator Steve
Published: March 2008

The purpose of the present study is to investigate first-grade children’s use of requests and responses in their homogeneous reading groups. Thirty students in six groups of varying reading ability were studied in the fall and spring. Standardized reading readiness achievement tests, and assessments of language competence were administered. Eight samples of peer-directed, group activity were audio- and videotaped. The results showed that: (a) ability groups differed in reading achievement, and those differences remained stable over the year; (b) groups differed in their use of requests and responses, and these differences also remained stable; (c) particular aspects of requests predicted obtaining appropriate responses, which were almost always “on-task.” Implications of these findings for opportunities to develop skills in peer-directed reading groups are discussed.
Mnemonic Versus Nonmnemonic Vocabulary-learning Strategies for Children
Authors: Levin Joel R , McCormick Christine B , Miller Gloria E , Berry Jill K , Pressley Michael
Published: March 2008

Fourth-grade students learned a list of relatively complex English vocabulary words in two experiments. In Experiment 1, pupils used either a mnemonic (“keyword”) contextual or a verbal contextual procedure. In Experiment 2, three other conditions were compared to the keyword context condition. They included a no-strategy control condition and two other contextual variations: (a) an experiential context condition that had been used previously, and (b) a nonkeyword pictorial context condition. In both experiments, the keyword method proved effective for enhancing children’s acquisition of new vocabulary words. Moreover, in the second experiment, neither of the two nonkeyword contextual variations improved students’ performance.
An Identification of Elementary Teacher Needs
Authors: Moore Kenneth D , Hanley Patricia E
Published: March 2008

Elementary school teachers have certain needs which limit their effectiveness in the classroom. To identify these needs, an assessment of teacher needs was conducted. The elementary school teachers indicated a high priority need for help in six factor need areas: (1) developing effective learners and a mastery of the basic skills; (2) guiding children to set up and achieve realistic goals; (3) locating materials and in-service support for more effective teaching; (4) establishing and maintaining discipline; (5) identifying and understanding readiness factors that affect learning; and (6) motivating children to learn. Additionally, analyses of variance were performed to test for relationships between the identified factor needs of elementary teachers and selected teacher variables. No statistically significant (p < 0.05) relationships were found to exist.
Determinants of Student Choice of Undergraduate Major Field
Authors: Cebula Richard J. , Lopes Jerry
Published: March 2008

This paper investigates the determinants of student choice of under-graduate major field. It argues that this choice depends on a variety of pecuniary and nonpecuniary factors. After allowing for the recent trends toward Accounting and Business Administration, the empirical results indicate that earnings differentials among fields and differences in the rate of change in earnings among fields are the most important factors in the student’s decision.
Withitness: The Confusing Variable
Authors: Irving Olwyn , Martin Jack
Published: March 2008

A partial replication of Kounin’s correlational research findings with respect to the variable of teacher withitness is briefly described. Discrepancies between Kounin’s findings and those of the partial replication study are noted. Inconsistencies in the theoretical and methodological/operational definitions that Kounin proposes for the withitness variable are discussed as possible sources of these discrepancies. Suggestions are made for further investigation relative to the role of teacher withitness in classroom management.
Norms of Collegiality and Experimentation: Workplace Conditions of School Success
Authors: Little Judith Warren
Published: March 2008

Semistructured interviews with 105 teachers and 14 administrators, supplemented by observation, provide data for a focused ethnography of the school as a workplace, specifically of organizational characteristics conducive to continued “learning on the job.” Four relatively successful and two relatively unsuccessful schools were studied. More successful schools, particularly those receptive to staff development, were differentiated from less successful (and less receptive) schools by patterned norms of interaction among staff In successful schools more than in unsuccessful ones, teachers valued and participated in norms of collegiality and continuous improvement (experimentation); they pursued a greater range of professional interactions with fellow teachers or administrators, including talk about instruction, structured observation, and shared planning or preparation. They did so with greater frequency, with a greater number and diversity of persons and locations, and with a more concrete and precise shared language. Findings suggest critical social organizational variables that lend themselves to quantitative study.
Effects of Ability Grouping on Secondary School Students: A Meta-analysis of Evaluation Findings
Authors: Kulik Chen-Lin C. , Kulik James A.
Published: March 2008

This article reports results from a meta-analysis of findings from 52 studies of ability grouping carried out in secondary schools. In the typical study the benefits from grouping were small but significant on achievement examinations—an average increase of one-tenth standard deviations on examination scores, or an increase from the 50th to the 54th percentile for the typical student in a grouped class. The size of achievement effect differed in different types of studies of grouping, however. Studies in which high-ability students received enriched instruction in honors classes produced especially clear effects, for example, while studies of average and below average students produced near-zero effects. The benefits of grouping were also clear in the area of student attitudes. Students in grouped classes developed more positive attitudes toward the subjects they were studying than did students in ungrouped classes.
The Effects of Thematic-Fantasy Play Training on the Development of Children’s Story Comprehension
Authors: Pellegrini A. D. , Galda Lee
Published: March 2008

This study examined the effects of three modes of story reconstruction training on the development of children’s story comprehension. One hundred and eight children in grades K-2 were assigned randomly to one of three training conditions: thematic-fantasy play, adult-lead discussion, or drawing. Children were read three books on separate occasions and exposed to the appropriate conditions in relation to each book. Story comprehension data, as measured by a two-factor, criterion-referenced test and a retell task, collected after the third session, were analyzed. Second graders’ performance on all comprehension measures was superior to the younger children’s comprehension. Thematic-fantasy play was the most effective facilitator of all measures of comprehension, particularly for kindergarteners. Enacting specific play roles seemed to have a direct effect on the ability to retell stories.
Resources and Outcomes of Minimum Competency Testing as Measures of Equality of Educational Opportunity
Authors: Serow Robert C , Davies James J
Published: March 2008

Equality of educational opportunity within Minimum Competency Testing (MCT) is analyzed in terms of the distribution of outcomes, availability of remediation, and effectiveness of remediation for blacks and whites. Findings from a sample of participants in one statewide MCT program indicated substantial equality only in resource availability and effectiveness of math remediation. Negative outcomes, mainly in the form of test failures, occurred disproportionately among blacks, and reading remediation appeared to be less effective for blacks than whites. Because resource effectiveness may prove to be a critical test of equity within MCT programs, expanded efforts to bolster reading skills among low-achieving minority students may be needed.
How Should Attributions Be Measured? A Reanalysis of Data from Elig and Frieze
Authors: Maruyama Geoffrey
Published: March 2008

Elig and Frieze used a multitrait, multimethod approach to contrast three methods for measuring attributions: unstructured/open-ended, structured/unidimensional, and structured/ipsative. The present paper reanalyzed their data using confirmatory factor analysis techniques. Six attribution dimensions, ability, stable effort, unstable effort, mood, task, and luck, were examined. The two structured methods were found to yield attribution dimensions that were similar to one another but quite unlike those defined by the unstructured/open-ended method; thus, findings from studies employing the unstructured method seem unlikely to be comparable to findings from studies using structured methods. The structured/unidimensional measures yielded a method factor with positive loadings on all attribution dimensions, demonstrating that that approach taps individual differences in the extremity of attributions made by subjects.
Instructional Effects of Cues, Participation, and Corrective Feedback: A Quantitative Synthesis
Authors: Lysakowski Richard S , Walberg Herbert J
Published: March 2008

To estimate the instructional effects of cues, participation, and corrective feedback on learning, 94 effect sizes were calculated from statistical data in 54 studies containing a combined sample of 14,689 students in approximately 700 classes. The mean of the study-weighted effect sizes is .97, which suggests average percentiles on learning outcomes of 83 and 50, respectively, for experimental and control groups. The strong effects appeared constant from elementary level through college, and across socioeconomic levels, races, private and public schools, and community types. In addition, the effects were not significantly different across the categories of methodological rigor such as experiments and quasi-experiments.
Educational Research Productivity of Institutions of Higher Education
Authors: Eash Maurice
Published: March 2008

This study investigates educational research productivity in institutions of higher education in the United States based on contributions to AERA annual meetings and 14 leading educational research journals over a 7-year period: 1975–1981. Data were analyzed along two dimensions: total productivity and faculty productivity. Total volume productivity has an impact on the field regardless of faculty size; faculty productivity emphasizes the strengths of institutional research activity. Both dimensions were combined in a third ranking to reflect the contributions of both dimensions. In addition, institutions were ranked on the basis of percentage of change in research productivity between the years 1975–1976 and 1980–1981.
Problem Complexity and the Transfer of Strategies in Computer-presented Problems
Authors: Steinberg Esther R
Published: March 2008

Two experiments were performed to determine whether practice on less complex problems, either smaller size or in familiar context, produces a strategy that transfers to similar but more complex problems. In the first experiment subjects solved a set of small or intermediate size problems in familiar or unfamiliar context. They subsequently did large size problems in their initially assigned context. Intermediate size problems resulted in significantly better performance on subsequent large size problems than practice on small size problems. In the second experiment subjects did a set of problems in one of three sizes and one of two contexts, with a subsequent set in the same size but in an unfamiliar context. Practice on familiar problems was no more effective than practice on unfamiliar for transfer to another unfamiliar context for all sizes. Students performed near ceiling on smaller size problems and poorly on larger problems. Implications for instruction are discussed.
Bringing Behavior Back In: The Effects of Student Characteristics and Behavior on the Classroom Behavior of Teachers
Authors: Natriello Gary , Dornbusch Sanford M
Published: March 2008

Two studies were designed to investigate the effects of student characteristics on teacher reports of their classroom behavior. Unlike earlier studies of differences in teacher behavior associated with differences in student characteristics, these studies also examined the effects of student behavior, represented by hypothetical classroom problems presented to teachers. Our analysis suggests that teacher behavior is affected more by immediate student behavior than by the student characteristics. Further, those characteristics more relevant to student performance in school, student achievement record, and social behavior record have a greater impact on teacher behavior than student characteristics that are less relevant to student performance, sex, and ethnicity. In contrast with studies which portray teachers as indulging their prejudices, our studies indicate that teachers behave rationally in their interactions with students with different characteristics as they use available information to formulate appropriate responses to students in classrooms.
Perception of Community Dissatisfaction and School Organizational Structures
Authors: Leiter Jeffrey
Published: March 2008

This paper examines the effects of school personnel’s perceptions of community dissatisfaction on school structures of normative consensus, upward communication, and exchanges of help. The analysis uses questionnaire data from administrators and teachers in a random sample of 34 junior high and middle schools to compare the explanatory utility of four theoretical perspectives. Perception of community dissatisfaction is found generally to disrupt the three structures. Interpretation of this finding combines explanations based on (a) the principal as buffer of community dissatisfaction directed at teachers, and (b) attitudes within the school as a mirror of attitudes in the community.
An Examination of the Effectiveness of a Cross-age Tutoring Program in Mathematics for Elementary School Children
Authors: Sharpley Anna M , Irvine James W , Sharpley Christopher F
Published: March 2008

The effectiveness of a supervised cross-age tutoring program in mathematics operations was assessed using 51 grade-six children and 25 grade-five children who tutored 51 grade-three and 25 grade-two children on a one-to-one basis for 30 minutes per day, four days per week over five weeks. Twenty-four grade-six and 31 grade-three children (within-school controls) and 18 grade-six, 21 grade-five, 32 grade-three and 32 grade-two children (noncontact school controls) did not take part in the tutoring program. Assessments were undertaken for the 152 experimental group children and the 158 controls prior to, and following the tutoring program to measure mathematics-operations and other mathematics achievements. Self-esteem of tutors and nontutors, and the reactions of tutors, tutees, relevant teachers and parents were also assessed. The fifth and sixth grade tutors effectively increased the operational mathematics achievements of their tutees: the increases in tutors’ and tutees’ mathematics achievements being significantly greater than those of the control children. Tutors were superior to nontutors in “operations” and “other” mathematics, whereas tutees were superior to nontutees only in mathematics operations, the focus of the program. Additional analyses showed that tutors’ pre-intervention mathematics abilities were not significantly related to tutees’ achievements in operations, nor was the self-esteem of tutors appreciably affected by their tutoring experience. Reactions to the program from tutors, tutees, parents and teachers were generally favourable.
Does the Attitude Similarity of College Professors and Their Students Produce “Bias” in Course Evaluations?
Authors: Abrami Philip C , Mizener Deborah A
Published: March 2008

This study examined the relationship between student/teacher attitude similarity and teacher rating form (TRF) scores. Students (N = 345) completed a 24-item attitude scale, once for themselves and once for their instructors, and a 28-item TRF. The results indicated that TRF variance explained by total similarity was reduced by almost half when teacher effects were removed. Similarity of attitudes relevant to higher education was related to teacher ratings; similarity of irrelevant attitudes was not. The component scores (own attitudes, perceived attitudes) accounted for more TRF variability than assumed similarity. Of the component scores, only perceived attitudes accounted for a significant amount of TRF variance independent of other effects. We conclude that the unique variance explained by student/teacher attitude similarity is of minimum importance when evaluations are used to make gross distinctions (e.g., poor, acceptable, outstanding) among instructors.
An Attributional Analysis of Teachers’ Affective Reactions to Student Success and Failure
Authors: Prawat Richard S , Byers Joe L , Anderson Ariel H
Published: March 2008

This study builds on previously established attribution-affect linkages in an effort to better understand teachers’ evaluative reactions to student success and failure. In the scenarios presented to teachers, students who differed in ability and in the amount of effort they expended were described as doing well or poorly on important tests. An additional manipulation related to the consistency of effort expended by students. It was thought that teachers would assume more responsibility for outcomes tied to dramatic, recent shifts in student motivation. Teacher ratings of 10 key affects (e.g., pride, guilt, anger) were used as dependent variables. As predicted, the affective reactions of teachers indicate that they are more willing to accept personal responsibility for certain kinds of student outcomes than others. Results bear out the notion that teacher affect provides valuable insight into teacher attributional thinking.
Characteristics of Pupils Identified as Learning Disabled
Authors: Shepard Lorrie A. , Smith Mary Lee , Vojir Carol P.
Published: March 2008

This study was aimed at describing the characteristics of school-aged children whom educators had identified as learning disabled (LD). A probability sample of 800 was selected from the population of all children served as learning disabled in the state of Colorado. A coding form was used by trained coders to extract relevant features from the case files of the children. The sample was characterized by (1) distributions of single variables (e.g., below grade level achievement, discrepancy between IQ and achievement, medical indicators), and (2) hierarchical classification creating clusters or subgroups within the LD sample. Fewer than half the sample exhibited characteristics consistent with definitions of LD in federal regulations and professional literature. Included in this group were subgroups of hyperactive, brain-injured children, children with significant discrepancies between IQ and achievement and those with signs of perceptual processing disorders. Slightly more than half the sample did not match conventional definitions of LD but exhibited learning problems such as language interference, emotional disorders, or mild retardation. The inclusion of the latter groups among the learning disabled is a particular problem in the validation of the construct and will confound research on prevalence rates and treatment efficacy.
Matthew Effects in Education
Authors: Walberg Herbert J. , Tsai Shiow-Ling
Published: March 2008

To test the hypothesized cumulative advantages of educative factors, the science-achievement scores on a 69-item test of science knowledge of 1,284 young adults, ages 26 to 35, surveyed by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in 1977, were regressed on three composite independent variables: motivation and prior and current educative experiences. The test scores were related significantly to prior experience-embodied variables, such as parental socioeconomic status, respondent education, and specific scientific training, as well as to motivation to learn and current amount and intensity of information acquisition, such as news media exposure and reading. Early educative experience predicts current educative activities and motivation; and all three factors contribute significantly and independently to the prediction of achievement.
Social Power in the College Classroom: The Impact of Instructor Resource Manipulation and Student Dependence on Graduate Students’ Mood and Morale
Authors: Rouse Linda P.
Published: March 2008

Questionnaires were distributed to faculty and students in 56 graduate courses offered at a large, southern, state university to investigate the effect social power in the college classroom has on graduate students’ mood and morale. Social power was defined in terms of instructor’s manipulation of resources (e.g., expertise, authority, rewards) and students’ dependence. The instructor’s style of resource manipulation was significantly correlated with students’ mood and morale. The relationship between overall mood and instructor style varied by dependence when students’ motivational investment in education as a means to other ends and their perception of alternatives available without an advanced degree were considered jointly. Findings demonstrate the importance of social power for understanding classroom interaction.
Relation Between Perseverance and Rate of Learning: A Test of Carroll’s Model of School Learning
Authors: Millman Jason , Bieger George R. , Klag Patricia A. , Pine Cathy K.
Published: March 2008

Four experiments were conducted to test a deduction from John B. Carroll’s Model of School Learning. According to the model, if a learner is already willing to persevere to the extent needed for learning, increasing the learner’s perseverance will not alter degree of learning or learning rate. In all experiments, the time needed to learn a paired-associate task under an encouragement condition designed to increase perseverance was compared to the learning time under a discouragement or control condition. As predicted by the model, none of the differences was statistically significant. The findings support the claim that rewards may increase the time learners will spend on a task but not their degree or rate of learning.
Achievement Motivation: An Investigation of Adolescents’ Achievement Patterns
Authors: Castenell Louis A
Published: March 2008

This study of 310 eighth graders attempted to assess whether adolescents of varying backgrounds differ in their levels of general and area-specific (school, peer, and home) achievement motivation. It also investigated whether adolescents are capable of maintaining differing levels of achievement motivation across their different areas of experience, and whether the capacity to do so varies with their race, socioeconomic status, and sex. The data were analyzed through a 2 × 2 × 2 analysis of variance. The findings indicated that there were significant differences on general measures of achievement motivation as well as on the area-specific measure. There were significant differences on a traditional general measure (EPPS) by race (white higher), sex (males higher), and social class (middle class higher). A new general measure reported significant differences by race (blacks higher) and sex (males higher). There were significant differences by race (blacks higher) and sex (males higher) in peer achievement motivation, but there were no significant class differences. The study suggests that race, sex, and class exercise a great influence on specific types of achievement behavior.
Self- and Teacher Expectancy Effects on Academic Performance of College Students Enrolled in an Academic Reinforcement Program
Authors: Haynes Norris M , Johnson Sylvia T
Published: March 2008

This study investigated self- and teacher expectancy effects on the academic achievement of a group of special students. The sample consisted of 172 male and female freshmen enrolled in an academic reinforcement program. Teacher expectations were manipulated by providing lists purporting to indicate students who were likely to improve in performance. The self-expectation condition was established by sending letters to students informing them that they were likely to do well. The results indicated significant self-expectancy main effects on achievement as measured by grade point average in liberal arts courses as well as significant teacher expectancy and self-expectancy interaction effects on this same measure of achievement. Teacher expectancy differences were not significant, and those small differences that existed favored the group for whom teachers had not been given any expectancy information.
Children’s Use of Text Structure in the Recall of Expository Material
Authors: Taylor Barbara M , Samuels S Jay
Published: March 2008

This study investigated whether superior recall for expository text could be attributed to the use of text structure as a retrieval cue or to some other memory factor. Elementary students read and recalled normal and scrambled versions of text. Children who were aware of text structure recalled significantly more of the normal passages than the scrambled, whereas for students who were unaware, there was no difference in recall between the normal and scrambled. That the aware group recalled more of the structured passage but not the scrambled suggests that it was use of structure, as opposed to a memory factor, that enhanced their recall. Results also indicated that many elementary students had not yet learned how to use text structure as a retrieval aid.
The Effectiveness of Self-directed and Lecture/Discussion Stress Management Approaches and The Locus of Control of Teachers
Authors: Friedman Gail H. , Lehrer Barry E. , Stevens James P
Published: March 2008

This study examined the interaction effects of two stress management strategies, directed lecture discussion versus self-directed, and the locus of control of teachers. Eighty-five teachers were pre- and posttested on the State Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Subjective Stress Scales. Subjects were pretested on the Locus of Control Scale, and approximately half of each of the extreme scores were randomly assigned to the treatment groups. The results indicate that both directive and self-directed stress management programs are effective in reducing stress. However, locus of control was not an important factor in determining success in a stress reduction program. The findings are discussed in terms of stress management approaches and inservice training programs.
Verbal Interaction of Students and Their Teachers in Junior High Classrooms
Authors: Randhawa Bikkar S.
Published: March 2008

Teachers’ and students’ verbal behaviors were investigated using the CVC system of classification in 72 classrooms of grades seven, eight, and nine in a rural and an urban school system. Trained observers observed classes during instruction in language arts, social studies, mathematics, and science twice during 2 weeks. The canonical correlation and redundancy analyses of 12 of the CVC cell percentages of teachers and students produced four significant canonical correlations ranging in value from .76 to .96. The total redundancy coefficients for the teachers’ and students’ factors were, respectively, .59 and .37. When the process and substance marginal categories were analyzed, respectively, one (.64) and two (.88 and .76), significant canonical correlations emerged. Canonical factor structures for the process data sets indicated that teacher-pupil verbal interaction was asymmetrically contingent. The substance level interaction appeared to be reciprocally contingent. Results are extended and related to the theory of instruction and behavior management.
The Influence of Cooperative Learning Strategies on Teacher Practices, Student Perceptions of the Learning Environment, and Academic Achievement
Authors: Talmage Harriet , Pascarella Ernest T , Ford Sue
Published: March 2008

This study describes the results of a 3-year evaluative investigation of teachers’ involvement in a cooperative goal structuring project. A specific focus is the efficacy of the project to enhance teacher use of cooperative goal structuring strategies with resultant changes in the classroom learning environment and achievement gains in reading and language arts. The results suggest that cooperative goal structuring strategies can be learned by teachers through longterm, in-service programs. Further, with prior achievement, grade level and initial cooperative environment perceptions held constant, length of teacher experience with cooperative grouping is significantly associated with both end-of-year reading achievement and student perceptions of the degree of cooperation in their learning environment. This does not hold for language arts achievement or for the hypothesis that degree of cooperation in the learning environment would directly influence student achievement.
Recruitment to School Teaching: The Relationship Between High School Plans and Early Adult Attainments
Authors: Lyson Thomas A , Falk William W
Published: March 2008

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, this paper examines the relationship between teaching plans and actually embarking on a teaching career. Results show that almost half the NLS respondents holding teaching positions in 1979 did not report teaching plans in high school, whereas three-fourths of the seniors who planned to teach were not teaching 7 years after high school graduation. Discriminant analysis is used to identify a set of background characteristics, demographic traits, and academic ability measures that distinguish different paths toward, into, and away from a career in teaching. Theoretical and policy implications of the findings are discussed.
Academic and Occupational Performance: A Quantitative Synthesis
Authors: Samson Gordon E. , Graue M. Elizabeth , Weinstein Thomas , Walberg Herbert J.
Published: March 2008

Computer searches of three data bases and hand searches of four major review articles yielded 35 studies of the association between academic and occupational performance in various fields completed since 1950. The study-weighted mean of the 209 correlations is .155, and the standard deviation is .176. Although highly significant, academic indicators such as grades and test scores account on average for only 2.4% of the variance in occupational performance criteria such as income, job satisfaction, and effectiveness ratings. Predictions of occupational performance from academic indexes were somewhat higher in business and nursing, somewhat lower in teaching and engineering, and not significant for MD’s and PhD’s. The correlation magnitudes depend on several characteristics of the studies and their populations.
Intentional and Incidental Learning with Instructional Texts: A Meta-Analysis for 1970–1980
Authors: Klauer Karl J.
Published: March 2008

Twenty-three research reports were selected based on five predetermined criteria. This led to 52 comparisons in which an experimental group was compared with its corresponding control group. Effect size estimators and their confidence intervals were calculated using methods developed by Glass (1977) , Hedges and Olkin (1980) , and Hedges (1981) . The main findings of the meta-analysis were the following: Giving behavioral objectives, learning directions, or questions before an instructional text is read leads to some improvement in the learning of goal relevant material; however, these preinstructional acts impede the learning of goal irrelevant material. It was concluded that overall learning is slightly improved by these acts. Some variables seem to have a modifying influence on the learning of goal relevant material and of goal irrelevant material (e.g., variables such as text length, objective type, test difficulty, etc). To a certain extent the results have supported the information processing theory of intentional and incidental learning.
The Factorial Invariance of Student Evaluations of College Teaching
Authors: Marsh Herbert W. , Hocevar Dennis
Published: March 2008

University instructors who taught the same course at least four times over a 4-year period were evaluated by different groups of students in each of these four classes (N = 316 instructors, 1,264 classes, 31,322 students). Factor analyses of the class average ratings clearly replicated the nine evaluation dimensions found in earlier studies. A multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) matrix was formed in which the nine dimensions were the multiple traits, and the four different offerings of the same course were the multiple methods. Across all nine dimensions the average convergent validity was r = .68. MTMM analyses with both the Campbell-Fiske MTMM criteria and confirmatory factor analysis (using LISREL) demonstrated substantial convergent and discriminant validity, but little method/halo effect. The confirmatory factor analysis also demonstrated the generalizability of the multivariate structure of the ratings across the four sets of courses. Taken together, these findings provide stronger evidence for the multidimensionality of student ratings than does any previously published research and describe a powerful analytic tool for use in student evaluation research.
Professors as Models and Mentors for College Students
Authors: Erkut Sumru , Mokros Janice R.
Published: March 2008

A questionnaire study among sophomores and seniors in five coeducational and one women’s liberal arts college provided the data for this research. A return rate of 66% was achieved, yielding 723 subjects, all of whom were able to identify a professor who had demonstrated the kinds of qualities and skills they considered important for themselves. The results show that female students neither gravitate toward nor avoid female role models. They choose female faculty as models to the extent that women are available on campus. Men on the other hand, avoid female models. They prefer high status, powerful male models who can promote their educational or career goals. Women, especially those choosing female models, look for the information that it is possible to combine a rewarding professional and family life. The responses of female and male students showed many more similarities than differences in the amount and nature of contact with models, mentoring performed by models, and modeling influences. Sex differences in the impact of models related to the type of college women attended. Women at the single sex college with male models were found to be academically most successful, felt more successful relative to their male and female peers, and more of these women planned to attend a graduate or professional school than any other group.
Effects of Practice on Aptitude and Achievement Test Scores
Authors: Kulik James A. , Kulik Chen-Lin C. , Bangert Robert L.
Published: March 2008

This meta-analytic synthesis of evaluation findings from 40 studies showed that students can raise their scores on aptitude and achievement tests by taking practice forms of the tests. The size of the gains from practice appeared to be a function of three factors. First, gains were larger when identical forms of a test were used for practice and criterion measurement and were smaller when parallel forms were used. Second, the size of the effect increased with the number of practice tests given. And finally, the size of effect was influenced by the ability level of the population studied; gains were larger for subjects of high ability than they were for subjects of low ability.
The Effects of Frequent Curriculum-Based Measurement and Evaluation on Pedagogy, Student Achievement, and Student Awareness of Learning
Authors: Fuchs Lynn S. , Deno Stanley L. , Mirkin Phyllis K.
Published: March 2008

This study examined the educational effects of repeated curriculum-based measurement and evaluation. Thirty-nine special educators, each having three to four pupils in the study, were assigned randomly to a repeated curriculum-based measurement/evaluation (experimental) treatment or a conventional special education evaluation (contrast) treatment. Over the 18-week implementation, pedagogical decisions were surveyed twice; instructional structure was observed and measured three times; students’ knowledge about their learning was assessed during a final interview; reading achievement was tested before and after treatment. Analyses of covariance revealed that experimental teachers effected greater student achievement. Additional analyses indicated that (a) experimental teachers’ decisions reflected greater realism about and responsiveness to student progress, (b) their instructional structure demonstrated greater increases, and (c) their students were more aware of goals and progress.