Using assessment data to determine student growth has become an integral part of the accountability movement, and researchers and educators are currently examining how new rules impact the academic assessment of gifted learners. In 2008, the Association for the Gifted's Annual Symposium at the Council for Exceptional Children Convention focused on…

High school students with disabilities are attending colleges and universities in growing numbers, with their rate of college participation doubling in the past twenty years. Students with disabilities in the secondary educational system are protected by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) of 2004, which requires…

The mission of this new fourth edition is to provide the reader with a solid foundation in the historical and philosophical perspectives of college student affairs development; assist the reader in understanding the major concepts and purpose of student affairs' practice, methods, and program models; enable the reader to conceptualize the theme,…

This book presents the results and implications of a major new national study exploring the effects of institutional racial composition on African American students' development and their educational outcomes, taking into account individuals' background characteristics, their perceptions of the institutional environment, and their experiences in…

Marzano (2003) identified 11 factors that positively influence student achievement. Those factors can be divided into three categories: school-level practices, teacher-level practices, and student-level characteristics. Interestingly, Marzano (2000) found that school- and teacher-level influences account for only 20% of the variance in student…

A study at the University of Tennessee Knoxville used mixed-effect structural equation models incorporating latent variables as an alternative to conventional methods of analyzing college students' (n=722) first-year-to-senior academic gains. Results indicate, contrary to previous analysis, that coursework and student characteristics interact to…

A study compared three methods for measuring college student growth and development in the course of a college education: (1) gain scores; (2) residual scores; and (3) repeated measures. Analyses indicated that all three are seriously flawed, although repeated measures offer the greatest potential for adequately representing student change.…

This paper reports on research that examined longitudinal data on students entering Tennessee Board of Regents institutions of higher education after the implementation of a state-mandated developmental studies program. The program identifies and helps at-risk students to persist in college to graduation. Data analysis is presented from a 1986…

Reports on an eight-year longitudinal study of Dutch children on the relationship of the development of reading ability in primary schools with general academic success. Finds that young children with reading problems in primary school keep them throughout their educational career. (CFR)

This report presents research findings concerning house systems in four New York city high schools during the 1988-89 school year. Quantitative analyses compared small and large schools with both weak and strong house designs. Findings indicate that house systems with more complete designs had more positive effects on staff and students and…

Summarizes research on recent developments in the trend toward full-day kindergarten programs. Topics covered include (1) full-day and half-day differential gains, (2) the nature of gains produced by full-day kindergarten, (3) the lack of causal relations among program components, (4) enduring effects, (5) differential student effects, and (6)…

In 1986, the Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development was contracted to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the California State University's (CSU) Summer Bridge and Intensive Learning Experience (ILE) programs. These new remedial/developmental programs are designed to provide basic skills instruction, orientation, and…

Today's administrators must exercise caution in using student retention as a means of responding to changing social values and to the current media attention on declining standardized test scores. Recent reviews of hundreds of studies of student retention have concluded that some low achieving students do benefit from retention, but the majority…

In the 21st century, students' character, social-emotional skills, and academic competencies will define school excellence. This article describes characteristics of visionary leadership for such schools based on settings already characterized by strengths in "EQ + IQ = Best Leadership Practices for Caring and Successful Schools." Core beliefs…

In response to the increased movement toward competency-based education, a large urban southeastern school system implemented a Pupil Progression Policy in the 1980-81 school year. This paper reports on the results of a 5-year longitudinal study of the policy's effect on the academic achievement of retained and promoted students who entered first…