Dynamic Measurement Modeling (DMM) is a recently-developed measurement framework for gauging developing constructs (e.g., learning capacity) that conventional single-timepoint tests cannot assess. The current project developed a person-specific DMM Trajectory Deviance Index (TDI) that captures the aberrance of an individual's growth from the…

In 1998, Angela Jerabek, a guidance counselor at a high school outside Minneapolis, grew frustrated watching too many ninth-graders fail courses year after year. Her principal encouraged her to come up with a new strategy to address the problem, knowing that failed classes too often lead students to drop out of high school. By the next school…

While the quality and quantity of research on service-learning has increased considerably over the past 20 years, researchers as well as governmental and funding agencies have called for more rigor in service-learning research. One key variable in improving rigor is using relevant existing theories to improve the research. The purpose of this…

This report concludes that for the U.S. to prosper and compete in the 21st century, the education system will need to change its goals and practices so all students may succeed. That is, as information has become ubiquitous, schools need to emphasize 21st century skills such as analyzing, synthesizing, and creating along with understanding and…

The American Council on Education's Office of Research has instituted a large-scale data bank for research in American higher education. This cross-sectional and longitudinal data bank is available to the general community of scholars and administrators interested in student characteristics, student development, comparative institutional effects,…

Article related the influence family background and socioeconomic level have on student achievement and the effectiveness schools have in changing that relationship. (RK)

Children who are "at risk" of educational handicap, or who are likely to show a poor response to the experience of school require special help and care at the earliest opportunity. Discusses the complex relationships observed between a wide range of conditions, personal and environmental, of a large group of school children, and their subsequent…

The Association for Values Education and Research (AVER) is an interdisciplinary group of researchers located at the University of British Columbia. Focuses on the competencies necessary for a morally educated person and the teaching/learning units that have been developed in order to expose students to values issues. (Editor/RK)

A professor entered a four-year engineering program together with student volunteers to obtain information on their problem-solving skills. This information as well as information on student characteristics and characteristics of freshmen and sophomore years are discussed in terms of curriculum modification, available resources, and needed changes…

The current status of research on experiential learning (primarily at the postsecondary level) is discussed, based in part on responses from a seven-member panel. Methodological considerations and proposed research agendas are also covered. Current research on experiential learning, which focuses on program design and impacts on the learner, falls…

An approach to higher education research that focuses on characteristics of and changes in the college student population in different countries and their effects on higher education is described and recommended. (MSE)

Focus of Study: This article investigates how teachers' relationships with boys can be central in bolstering boys' resilience and connection to their work in schools. Specifically, we examine how teachers understand the ways that their relationships with boys shape their teaching practice as well as their understandings of boys' learning in…

The literature on the development of college students is discussed, and recommendations are offered for developing a course on student development theory and research. The following observations about the literature are considered: (1) the literature on the college student is actually two separate literatures, one focused on outcomes and the other…

This study predicted student achievement based on need for developmental study, investigating different students' types of censoring; variables influencing student achievement; and whether developmental study was appropriate for realizing student achievement. Participants were 403 community college students. Achievers were students who within four…

British and U.S. preschool intervention projects are now reporting dramatic long-term follow-up findings that appear to vindicate the claim that preschool can serve as an "innoculation against failure," especially with disadvantaged children. However, important questions remain about the generalizability of these effects in other…