To ascertain the incidence of drug use in a rural area and to provide insight into the covariates of illegal drug use which might be useful in developing prevention programs, data were collected in the spring of 1981 from 2,060 or 83.2% of all students grades 8 through 12 in a southern Georgia county. Data were collected during regularly scheduled…

The Student's Perception of Ability Scale (SPAS) was developed in response to a need for a reliable and valid instrument to measure academic, rather than general, self-concept in elementary school children. This scale was designed for use with children in Grades 3 to 6. Descriptive data on the SPAS were discussed in terms of its substantive,…

The relationship between student reported achievements (SRA) and student ratings of their corresponding course and teacher was investigated, from responses to the Instructor and Course Evaluation Questionnaire. The SRA consisted of 10 commonly accepted concepts of cognitive and individual development; their average was used as a measure of…

A set of 65 evaluation questions was compiled from published instruments. A total of 200 undergraduate students rated both their best and worst teacher from the previous term. Each of the set of 65 items was rated twice for the best teacher and twice for the worst teacher, with order randomized. Factor analysis of ratings of the Best Teachers, the…

The School Anxiety Questionnaire (SAQ) is a 105-item, multiple-choice instrument designed to measure five aspects of anxiety behavior: 1) Recitation Anxiety; 2) Test Anxiety; 3) Report Card Anxiety; 4) Achievement Anxiety; and 5) Failure Anxiety. The five scales are typically 13 or 14 items in length and have reliability in the middle to high…

An 80-item rating scale, drawn from faculty descriptions of students, was completed by 407 faculty for 398 students in 8 institutions to ascertain desirable traits beyond those directly related to academic achievement. The items, including a student desirability variable, together with SAT scores, high school rank, and freshman grade point…

This report, a continuation of the study described in TM 000 174 and TM 000 176, employs identical data and similar methods to determine the nature of desirability separate and apart from the rater's perception of the student's academic performance (rather than his actual performance). The results show an absorption in the faculty perception of…

Bayesian estimation procedures are summarized and numerically illustrated by means of simulation methods. Procedures of data generation for simulation purposes are also delineated and computationally demonstrated. The logistic model basic to the Bayesian estimation procedures is shown to be explicit with respect to the probability distribution…

This author reviews published data and presents new data relevant to the Spearman hypothesis concerning racial differences on cognitive tests. He concludes that across-the-board difference between SES groups occurs primarily on the general factor, and that there are major determinants of race differences independent of the general factor.…

The author responds to criticisms made by Jensen pertaining to tests of the Spearman hypothesis. The near-zero correlation between Blacks and low socio-economic status Whites is neither an artifact of methodology nor a sampling fluke. Low and high SES White differences are highly correlated with general factor loadings. (LMO)

Assesses 180 college students at three ages (17-23, 37-43, and 61-80) to examine the relative availability of Piagetian formal reasoning concepts; the relationship of these formal reasoning performances to Horn and Cattell's psychometric theory of general fluid and crystallized intelligence; and developmental patterns among standardized…

Undergraduates and graduates indicated their degree of satisfaction with their major department. Two highly correlated factors, General Satisfaction with Major and Satisfaction with Mentorship, were obtained. Factor scores did not differ for class level, grade point average, sex, field of study, or reason for choosing their major. (Author/RD)

The self-report Educational Beliefs Questionnaire (EBQ) was constructed, and its construct validity was studied with 610 elementary school and secondary school teachers. The instrument assesses beliefs about five specific educational concepts. Further research will determine whether the 3-factor model still applies to a 20-item version of the EBQ.…

The relationships between time management of college students and self-reported academic performance and various affective measures of stress were explored for 123 undergraduates. The study indicates that self-reported time management is multidimensional and that there are important relationships among time management, performance, and stress.…

Constructed School Social Behavior Scales (SSBS) to include teacher-related and peer-related forms of social competence and antisocial behavior. Standardized SSBS using teacher ratings on 1,858 kindergarten through grade 12 students across United States Evidence presented from several related studies in present investigation indicated that SSBS…