"Data Trends" reports present summaries of research on mental health services for children and adolescents and their families. The article summarized in this "Data Trends" uses data from a multilevel longitudinal study, the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN), to investigate possible effects of neighborhood residence on…

This document was produced by the authors based on their research for the report "Sustaining the Skill Base of Technical and Further Education Institutes: TAFE Managers' Perspectives" [ED495199], and is an added resource for further information. The original report examined the approaches managers and leaders in 16 TAFE institutes have undertaken…

This study discusses the successes and failures that resulted when fifth grade students used email to compose response journals. Every student was required to send at least one email a week to the teacher describing and reacting to the novel they were reading independently. The teacher would respond each evening. The study was conducted in an…

In Jacob Abbott's book, "Marco Paul's Travels on the Erie Canal," Marco's cousin Forester explains to Marco that there are two modes of acquiring knowledge--through books and through observation. Students obtain more complete and meaningful understanding of a topic when provided with experiences that use both primary and secondary…

Violence is increasingly present in Quebec schools. Our position is that we should invest in "primary" prevention of violence by helping preschool children develop cognitive competencies. One of the aspects of cognitive development explored in this text regards children's Social Representations (SR) of violence. Indeed, a number of…

This study was conducted to examine teachers' expectations regarding the reading achievement of children from divorced and intact families. Sixty elementary school teachers participated by completing a survey. Four variations for the survey were distributed. Each version differed from the others only to the extent that the introductory statement…

With the increased use of computerized adaptive testing, which allows for continuous testing, new concerns about test security have evolved, one being the assurance that items in an item pool are safeguarded from theft. In this paper, the risk of score inflation and procedures to detect test takers using item preknowledge are explored. When test…

This paper presents six original in-class activities for audience analysis and adaptation before, during, and after a speech presentation in a basic public speaking course. The activities in the paper combine audience information surveys, demographic traits, situational traits, adaptation strategies, adjustment to audience feedback, and self…

Making a case for the value of literature-based instruction, this book presents an overview of the extensive knowledge base supporting literature-based approaches to literacy instruction. It notes that literature-based instruction goes beyond simply changing the kinds of texts children read--also required in literature-based instruction are an…

The 1996 National Household Education Survey (NHES:96) was a random digit dial telephone survey of households that was developed by the National Center for Education Statistics and conducted by Westat, Inc. The NHES:96 included two topical survey components, "Parent and Family Involvement in Education," (PFI) which collected data about…

No instructional technique has brought introductory students in literature at Tidewater Community College (Virginia) closer to the genuine in poetry than writing their way into a work, in particular, writing combined with individual and collaborative activities that engage multiple senses and establish learning communities. Adapting to a computer…

This report documents the technology initiatives of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) in two broad areas: (1) using technology to improve the quality, utility, and feasibility of existing measures; and (2) using technology to design and develop new assessments and measurement approaches available…

The Teacher List Validation Study was conducted to evaluate the quality of the Teacher Listing Record (TLR), a form used during the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) to obtain a list of teachers in each school. The SASS is a set of four inter-related surveys of public and private elementary and secondary schools, districts, teachers, and…

A study explored the storybook reading experiences between Ms. Garza and her children. A broad conception of the zone of proximal development, involving use, adaptation, and transformation of culturally shaped tools in the process of shared activity, provides the framework for examining this particular Mexican-American family's reading behavior.…

The National Household Education Survey (NHES) is a data collection system of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) designed to address a wide range of education-related issues. It is a telephone survey of the noninstitutionalized civilian population. In 1995, the NHES included a survey of adult education (AE). This report examines…