Educational policy research has yet to account for the movement and manifestations of federal and state policies in local school districts. In an effort to describe and explain major consequences of policy, this study examines the policy ingression process (the movement of policy in the form of statute and regulation from the district…

Uses path analysis and data from 2,829 Washington State residents aged 55 and over to study effects of rural or urban residence on social integration/loneliness. Finds rural residents not more highly integrated into social networks than urban counterparts and not lonelier. Discusses implications for existing social relations stereotypes of the…

Describes development of a causal model to test effects of scholastic ability, computing attitudes, and computing background of university undergraduates on use of a computer-assisted instructional system, PLATO-LDEC; on attitudes toward PLATO-LDEC; on computing attitudes after students' PLATO-LDEC experience; and on course grade. (Author/MBR)

The relationship between goal orientation and the use of learning strategies and their effects on learning outcomes were investigated. The three goal orientations considered were: (1) task orientation, which involves learning for its own sake; (2) ego orientation, which involves a desire to perform better than others; and (3) work avoidance, which…

An extensive body of research indicates that men on the average achieve higher scores in mathematics than women. Despite this extensive research, conclusions about sex differences in mathematics achievement have suffered from various inadequacies in the use of measures of association among coursework experiences, sex, and other correlates of…

Longitudinal study examined effect of children's gender on tendencies of mothers to use specific antecedents in ascribing causal explanations for their children's sixth grade mathematics performance. Path analyses showed that, for both mothers of boys and mothers of girls, maternal perceptions of child performance were associated with…

A study designed to examine biological, sociological, and early maturational correlates of intelligence collected data prospectively, from birth to 15 years of age, on a sample of 987 black children. Multiple indicators of eight independent and three dependent variables were tested in a structural equation model. Altogether, clear sex differences…

A study was designed to investigate the complex interrelationship of factors that affect university students' academic achievement. The study used a sample population of 72 students who were enrolled in first year Nursing and Teacher Education courses in 1991 at the Flinders University of South Australia. From data gathered over 2 years, a…

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine associations among background characteristics, commitment levels, institutional involvements, and persistence for male and female university students. Data were collected from college records and surveys completed by 316 university freshmen at the beginning of and 10 weeks into the 1984 fall…

A conceptual model was developed and assessed to examine the relationship between critical thinking and political participation. Although the empirical and theoretical bases for the model are not fully discussed, findings based on path analysis are presented. Based on data from 118 graduate and undergraduate students, the model affirms the…

This paper describes a model of the influence of personal and environmental factors on students' valuing of two deep-processing strategies for studying expository texts. In the model, task orientation (a form of intrinsic motivation in which learning and understanding are the major goals) interacts with perceptions of the teacher's goals to…

Two aspects of knowledge use in schools are analyzed in this report. The first considers the "reception" of knowledge that results from professional social inquiry (PSI), and the second explores some factors that affect the internal school dissemination of such knowledge. Data were collected from 207 secondary school teachers in 45…

This study tested an integrative longitudinal model of the early schooling process on three first-grade outcomes for 1,539 poor urban ethnic minority children (1,470 Black; 69 Hispanic). The model views educational attainment as a function of readiness characteristics upon entry into kindergarten and intervening kindergarten and first-grade…

Data from the Gallup Polls of Public Attitudes Toward Education, administered in 1974, 1977, 1980, and 1983, were re-analyzed using multivariate analysis methods. An attempt was made to determine what segments of the public demonstrated support or non-support for the public schools. Survey responses were available for over 1500 people for each…

Proposes social structural view of poverty rates as a function of local opportunity instead of individual-level focus on who is poor. Defines poverty rates as a function of industrial structure and relative power of labor in a locality. Confirms theoretical model with data from 46 South Carolina counties. (LFL)