Employing two complementary data sets--the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of l972, and the Study of Academic Prediction and Growth, we question the conventional interpretation of educational plans as motives and thereby as determinants of educational attainment. (Author/GDC)

Changes in attitude were examined over a one-year period in pre-, early, and later adolescent samples. Self-esteem, locus of control, and achievement motivation were examined. The amount of attitudinal change evidenced by subjects at each age level varied with the kind of attitude being assessed. (Author/RD)

Students (N=418) with rural and urban backgrounds in the 1970 freshman class of a large state university were studied over a four-year period. Attrition rate was consistently higher for rural students, suggesting a special set of stresses for these students. Suggestions for developing outreach and remedial student services are presented. (Author)

A two-year study randomly assigned children (K-grade 2) with advanced mathematical skills (n=276) to two groups, an intervention group reflecting a constructivist approach or a control. Boys gained more than girls on quantitative and visual-spatial measures in the control, whereas the intervention group made greater gains in quantitative measures…

Reports on a service-learning seminar at Stanford University (California) for nine faculty and three administrators designed to stimulate faculty interest in connecting student public service to academic study and provide knowledge and resources for course design. Data are drawn from participants' seminar learning plans, assessments, and follow-up…

Study of a cohort of low birth weight, preterm infants examined effects of maternal knowledge and concepts of child rearing on the home environment and developmental outcomes. Maternal knowledge, measured at 1 year, was found to be associated with quality of the home environment, the number of child behavior problems, and to a small degree, infant…

Examined use of integrated, interdisciplinary, or multidisciplinary (I/ID/MD) curricula in Missouri schools. Qualitative and quantitative analyses suggest that: use of I/ID/MD is affected by school size; nonuser schools are primarily rural, with student bodies of low SES status; and teacher involvement in decision making is higher among schools…

Examined concurrent and longitudinal factors associated with geographical distance between parents and their young adult offspring. Adolescents were interviewed and completed questionnaires several times between sixth grade and age 21. Results indicated correlations between healthy parent-child relationships and geographical distance, personal…

Examined 499 urban middle school students' perspectives on cooperative learning and conflicts that arise when they work in groups. Found that most subjects prefer cooperative learning to working alone, but that the most appealing aspects of cooperative learning--peer interaction and opportunities for different points of view--are also fertile…

This study followed children retrospectively from kindergarten through 12th grade to examine incidence of abnormal school vision screening tests and rates of follow-up by specialists. School vision screening provided first indication of abnormal visual acuity in 76% of the children. Results support the notion that school vision screening is…

A longitudinal study investigated developmental change in theory of mind among 57 children (ages 4-14) with autism. Theory of mind tests were administered on an initial visit and one year later. Data indicated significant developmental improvement in theory of mind ability, which was primarily related to the children's language ability. (Contains…

A study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988-1994 to compare postsecondary outcomes among 7,007 students with and without disabilities who participated in secondary vocational education. Students with disabilities who participated in vocational education earned more wages than peers with disabilities who did not…

A longitudinal study examined the performance of 50 African American children (ages 4-6) from low- and middle- income homes on a reading comprehension test. Preliminary results indicate two measures predicted later reading comprehension for children from low income homes, use of complex syntax and shape matching. (Contains references.) (Author/CR)

A 2-year longitudinal study investigated influences of social support and self-esteem on adjustment in early adolescence. Findings obtained using latent growth curve modeling were consistent with self-esteem mediating effects of social support on emotional and behavioral adjustment. Lack of balance in social support and self-esteem in direction of…

Examined changes in students' beliefs about learning mathematics from first to fourth grade. Found that students had a narrow conception of the usefulness of mathematics, fairly accurate conceptions of their achievement by third grade, a tendency to like mathematics more as the subject became harder, and that students' opinion of group versus…